Life in the Game
by williamserin8
Summary: Kira is a beta tester for the game Sword Art Online (which you can use your own body as a controller) which is the worst thing she can be. That's because when the game officially went for sale 10,000 people bought it. When they plugged in their Nerve Gear they went in the game. Only to find out that the only way to logout is if they bet all 100 floors and their bosses.
1. Chapter 1

Please message me if you have any ideas for this!

Chapter 1

My name is Kari Hayashi and in the year of 2022 a guy named Tomoko Tanaka created a thing called Nerve Gear. With the Nerve Gear you are able to play the game using your own body as the controls. Today the first game comes out for the Nerve Gear. Only 10,000 people are able to buy the first set. Since I was a beta tester I have the Nerve Gear and I just got the game after waiting in line for 2 hours.

I finally get to go back. I only got to be in the game for a couple months before the testing period was over and I only made it to floor 50. This time I am certain that I will be the first one to go to floor 100. It's 8:00 am so I lie in my bed and get comfortable. When I am comfortable enough I hook up the Nerve Gear and close my eyes.

When I open my eyes I am in a dark room with a screen hovering in the air. When I get to it I put my username as Deathangelz and set my character on the female default character. When I am done a press finish and I get beamed out of the dark room.

I look at myself when I get beamed to the world. I have a simple black pixie haircut and I have the armor all beginners wear. On my hip lays a sword that is going to be fine for the first few levels. When I get done inspecting myself I look around and see that I am in the town for beginners. Already there are people beaming in like me in their avatar. Not waiting a second longer a run down a street I know that leads to a good hunting area where I can level up with some simple monsters.

When I am running I suddenly hear a guy running after me yelling, "Hey you the chick with black hair slow down." Since I know I am the only one here besides him I slow down. In a couple of seconds he catches up panting like a dog. When he catches his breath he says to me, "You're a beta aren't you." When I don't answer he smiles and says, "I noticed you knew where you were going. Can I tag along because I would love it if you could give me some helpful tips?" Since he looks harmless I let him tag along. When we start walking he tells me his name is Henry.

When I reach the place I wanted to go I start hunting for the monster pigs. They are the easiest animals to kill in this game. When I look over at Henry to see if he is doing any good I see that the pig is chasing him around with a mad look in his eye. While Henry looks so scared of the pig and is running for his life. Trying not to laugh I lunge towards the pigs and with a graceful arc of my sword I kill the pig. When I finish checking for dropped items I walk towards Henry. Since he has no clue how to kill a simple pig I thought I might as well help him out. I showed him that he has to let his sword power up before he should attack. He got the hang of it after a couple minutes.

When Henry leveled to 6 and I leveled to 8 we thought that it was time to go. We both headed up towards the town for beginners. It only took us a couple of minutes to reach the town. When we reach the plaza Henry turns towards me and says, "I have to get home now because I have a pizza coming but I'm going to be back on around 8:30am tomorrow." I just shake my head. When he leaves I'm going to go back to the field and hunt some more so I can reach level 10. While I was thinking Henry had pulled up his screen where he could see his level, items he has, money, and the options tab. Right now he's looking at the options tab. After he scrolls down it a couple of time he looks up with fear in his eyes and says, "I can't find the logout button." With that I raise my right hand and put it in the air for a second. That's the command for the screen to pull up. I quickly go to my options tab and scroll all the way down where the log out button was at when I was a beta. There wasn't a logout button there. I look around and see others are freaking out too. Are we stuck in this virtual world forever? Is there even a way out?


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Suddenly thousands of people transported to the town. It would have been nothing if they weren't looking around scared or even crying. They must have been forced to transport here. The only way for that to happen was if an administrator wanted to do it. Before I could think about this more a screen comes up, but it's all the way up in the sky. On it is a masked man. He clears his throat and says, "Right now most of you have figured out that there is not a logout. All of you are probably thinking that this was a mistake on the administrator's hands. Well I am sorry to burst your bubble but this was not a mistake." He stopped there so he could see our reactions. After that he says, "All 10,000 of you are trapped in this world. The only way you could possibly be able to escape is if you beat all one hundred floors and their bosses. To help you I am sending down a little game to make this game a bit easier." With that thousands of mirrors were transported into the hands of players. Curious about why we got I mirror I look in it. What I see shocks me so much I drop the mirror.

Instead of seeing the default avatar for girls I saw myself. Instead of short black hair I saw my long flowing black hair. I still have the black eyes but that's because I have them in real life to. I also got those stupid freckles all over my face. When I look around and I see that everyone else looks different too. There are guys with girl clothes on and then girls in guy clothes. When I look at where Henry was standing I give a yelp of surprise. Standing in his place is a guy that looks so different. Before Henry looked in the mirror he looked like a handsome tall blonde guy with nice blue eyes. Now that he looked in the mirror he is still tall but that's where the similarities stopped. He now has a Mohawk of multiple colors along with green eyes. Don't get me wrong he still looked cute but in a totally different way. Now it was Henry that did the yelping. He walks around me like he's inspecting me and says to me, "I can't believe you made a avatar so boring when you look real cute in real life. Here I am hiding the fact that I look scary especially with my piercings and all so that I could get a real cutie on here." By the time he finishes my face is a red as a tomato. Before I could respond the person on the screen started talking again, "As you can see everyone looks like they do in real life. If you're wondering how we did this I will explain. Before you could enter the game we told you to pat all parts your body so that we can let you have the best experience. The real reason was so that we knew your height and figure. We figured how your facial features looks like because of the Nerve Gear. Before I leave you all I need to inform you something important. If you die in this world you will also die in the real world." Before he could leave us someone shouted, "Take off that mask and show us who you are!" He chuckles and says, "I am hurt that you do not know who I am by just hearing my voice." I do know who he is. I have known since the first word he said because I know that voice from anywhere. To confirm my suspicions he take off his mask. Looking at us through the screen is none other than Tomoko the creator of Aincard the floating place we are in and the rest of the Sword Art Online game.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

When Tomoko left the plaza burst into panic. Everyone was in panic about what they just found out except for me. I was the only one who kept calm and did any thinking. If we are stuck in this world until we bet floor 100 then with 10,000 people hunting and killing monsters in the same place pretty soon we would run out of monsters around here so I am heading towards the next town. When I started heading towards the next town I felt a hand on my arm. I look up only to notice that it was just Henry. He looked a bit scared himself but he manages to ask, "Where are you going?" I tell him what I was thinking about. When I finish he has a concerned look on his face and he says to me, "It could be dangerous to go to the next town. There could be monsters that could sneak up and attack you and they could kill you." I am glad that he is concerned about my safety but he doesn't have to. I just smile as I say, "Did you already forget that I was a beta tester for this game. I know a safe path that I can take that has no monsters on it so I will be safe. If you want to you can come with me." He shakes his head as he says, "I can't come with you. I waited I line for some of my friends and they are somewhere in the game. Maybe we will meet again someday." After he finished talking I started walking again. Before I was out of his earshot Henry yells, "You never told me what your real name was." I laughed at that and yelled back, "My name is Kari." With that I left my first friend in this game.

I was a bit wrong about the path. It did have a few monsters on it. Thankfully they were just the wild pigs. As I kill the last wild pig I look up. I finally made it. It took about half a day to get here but I am finally in Summerville. As the name gave it away it is always summer in this town. That's why I always loved this town. I look around for the hotel they have in this town. There it is! Just like I remembered it was right by the marketplace. When I am well rested I might visit the marketplace and get some of the good stuff before anyone can.

The hotel has a nice feel to it. It reminds me of my home back in Japan. Right now my brother would be getting home only to find that I am stuck in a game. It is a game that can cause me to die in this game and in the real world. I hope I don't because I had a real bad fight with my brother before I went into the game. It was about this game and how I need to quit playing games like it. Before I could burst out crying the hotel's keeper gave me the key to my room. I smile at her even though she is just computer-programed character. It's not her fault that she was stuck being a computer program for the game that trapped thousands of people.

When I open the door to my room I look around. Just like a regular hotel it has a bathroom, bed, dresser, and fridge. The only difference is that in the corner they have a sword sharpener. Which is weird since you could just go to a blacksmith to do this. There is also a chest in the room. I head towards it and open it. In it is a box that says, "Welcome Gift!" I pick it up like it is a bomb just waiting for it to explode in my face. Curiosity over comes me again so I open it. Inside it is crystals, which is useful. I know what you are probably thinking. You're probably thinking that they are crystals that you put on jewelry but your wrong. They are things that you can crush and depending on the type of crystal it can either be used to transport somewhere, restore your heath, or if you really need to you could use some as an antidote to poisons. Even in the gaming worlds there are people that would want to kill you even now there are people who still want to kill others even though they know it will kill them in real life.

Do you want to know why I know this? It is because in every virtual game there are always people that want to kill other players. In this game you will know if they are player killers if you look at the little diamond thing that hovers above the player's head. If it is green you are safe but if it's red that means you need to run because they have killed someone in the game already.

Anyway back to the crystals. In the box there are one of each of the type of crystals. This might actually come in handy. After I stored the crystals in my inventory a big yawn comes out of my mouth. I guess that even though we are in this game we still get tired. I grab something quick to eat and I go to sleep. Not knowing what tomorrow might have in store for me.


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry that it is short.

Chapter 4

I wake up from my dreams by the alarm clock next to the bed. Any other day I would have slammed the alarm clock off and went to sleep but this is not any other day. I actually was glad that it woke me up. I dreamed about my family and how they would react when they found out that I am stuck in this game and might even die in here and they can't do anything but stand by my side and weep.

To make sure that I won't curl up in a ball and cry my eyes out I busy myself by getting ready for today. Which isn't very hard since I slept in the armor. All I had to do was brush my hair and teeth.

When I finished doing those two simple tasks I walked out of my hotel room and went to the marketplace. The marketplace has anything that I would need. There are swords, food, crystals, armor, everyday clothing, and even tools to help boost up skills. I got a pretty wicked sword for an awesome price and some armor that fits my personality. It's a pair of black skinny jeans and a black long sleeve and on top of it are some simple gauntlets and leg bracers. When I get into the higher levels I plan on taking the gauntlets and leg bracers off. The people that wear so much armor on them slow down their moves and the armor practically yells, "I AM NOT CONFIDANT ABOUT MY SWORD MOVES!" which means that monsters and players alike will want to fight you.

I know I sound arrogant but I'm not. It's just that I don't want to walk around with full body armor on me reminding me that I am fighting for my life in this sick twisted game that Tomoko created so that he could have some entertainment out of our misery. I want to be able to make the most of this. I don't want to sulk around. I want to go around and enjoy myself while I am trying my best to get out of this game.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I stayed at Summerville for two and a half weeks when finally people started to come. By that time I have reached level 30 mainly because I remembered I great spot where there is a monster that you can kill and it drops enough XP that I jumped from level 12 all the way to 25. When there were around 3,000 people I got an announcement delivered to me about a meeting for those who want to fight on the front lines. The date for the meeting is today in two hours.

Two hours later I am seating alone in the amphitheater while everyone is in groups chatting. Most of them are laughing and having fun though there are some with serious faces. I'm glad that I am not the only person that has the same outlook on the situation we were put in. I am also not the only one who is sitting alone in this crowd. 10 feet to my left there is a person wearing a cloak and they are staring at nothing in particular. I look away before they can see that I am staring at them. When I look down at the stage below I see a man in full body armor walk on the stage.

I am not the only person that saw him go on the stage because when he stops in the middle of the stage everyone stopped talking waiting for what we have all been waiting for. Someone found out where the boss is located for the first floor. I bet you that it was either a beta who wanted the ball to get rolling or a person who really wanted to bet the game and go home. The meeting was to decide our strategy for the fight.

It took two hours and a lot of loud voices wanting to be heard to decide what our strategy was going to be. We are going to have it where everyone who is going to fight in the first boss level is going to have a partner to fight with. Right now people are going around looking for our partner is going to be. I look around trying to find out whom I am going to ask to be my partner. When I notice that the person in the cloak is still sitting alone so I walk over to ask them. When I reach the cloaked figure I ask nervously, "Would it be all right if I partner up with you for the boss fight?" when I finished talking he looked up. Yeah I know I said he because when he looked up his cloak fell of his head showing me his blond spikey hair and his dark brown eyes. I almost didn't hear him say, "That's fine with me but let me warn you my level is probably way higher than yours so it would not be a fair match up." When I hear that it makes me a little mad that he would think that my level is way lower than his just because I am a scrawny chick. So I ask him in a mad tone, "And how high is that level?" he gets a big smile on his face as he says, "I am officially at level 15." I start laughing when I hear his number and how proud he sounded as he was saying the number. When I finish laughing I say, "Well I am sorry to burst your bubble but my level is officially up to 30." When he hears that he looks shocked and then with a sneer on his face he says, "You almost got me there now really what is your level is it 5 or do I need to go lower." Right when I am about to slap him for what he just said someone gets in my way. I would have shoved him out of the way but I stopped myself when he looks in the jerks eyes and says, "Why do you think she is lying about how high her level is. Is it because she is a girl? Is it because she looks like she weighs less than a toothpick?" the jerks answer is, "Well of course it's because she is a girl. Just look at her she looks like she belongs in the kitchen not on the front lines." Before he could say anything more about me the mysterious guy punches the jerk in the face. With that the jerk runs away saying that the mysterious guy will be sorry for punching his face. The mysterious guy finally turns around so I could see whom he is. He was also one of the people who sat alone I just didn't take notice to him. He is a tall thin guy with tousled brown hair and bright blue eyes. Before he can notice that I was checking him out I say, "Thanks but I did not need any help I know how to handle myself." Instead of getting mad at what I said he just smiles and says, "I know you could have but when I heard what he was saying to you it got me really mad so I couldn't help it." I look down at my shoes and say, "Yeah well it is my fault. I was the one who came to him because I was going to see if he would partner up with me." now it was his turn to be shy as he says, "Well if you still need someone to team up with for the boss fight I need one too." Well he was nice enough to punch the jerk for being judgmental about my gender. I raise my right hand and I go through my options until I get to the place where I can send him an invitation to join my group. When the request pops up on his screen he smiles at it and automatically presses yes. Before I say anything I look towards the air to the left of my face and where my health bar shows to see his health bar is under it along with his username. Going on a leap of faith I say, "Well I can not wait to fight in the boss level with you, Hikaru." He is shocked so I guess his username is his real name. When his shock recedes he manages to say, "Did we meet before because I think I would remember if I met I girl like you." As a blush covers my cheeks I say, "No, we have not met before. I just saw your username was Hikaru so I just went on a limb with that." When I finish he says, "You can see my username. Can you show me how you did that?" So I went through the steps on how to see a group member's name. When he does the steps he asks, "Is your username Deathangelz?" I shake my head yes and add in, "But you can call me by my real name which is Kari." After we talked for a bit I excused myself so that I could rest a bit before the boss fight happens.

Three more hours later and I head back to the amphitheater. Hikaru is right where we said we were going to meet up at before the fight. When he sees me coming he smiles and waves at me. When I reach him I only have to wait for a couple of minutes until the person that is leader of the people that are fighting the boss. He clears his throat and says to everyone, "We are about to start the trip to the boss fight. Remember who your fighting partner is and keep close to them so you won't lose them."

It took us an hour and a half to reach the place where the boss for this place is hiding. As long as you are not in the room that the boss is in it will not attack you but if you enter its room it will attack you with everything it has. The place where we are at is a part of a castle. Right now we are grouped up in front of the door. The leader turns to us and says, "When we enter here we will be fighting for all 10,000 players that have been trapped in this game. The person that lands the last blow to the boss gets to keep anything the boss drops and the experience they get but that does not mean that you should endanger yourself just so that you can have the last blow." With that he opens the door leading to the boss.


	6. Chapter 6

It is short again sorry.

Chapter 6

When we enter the room is filled with complete darkness. Then suddenly torches start to light up all over the place. For the people that are not betas this is the first time they get to lay eyes upon a floor boss. The first floor boss is a gigantic blue monster with curling horns on the top of its head. The weapon it uses is a gigantic sword that is 12 feet long. Us players only have one health bar while the boss has four of them. I hope we don't shed many lives on this monster not even the jerk should be killed in this fight.

The fight is vicious that is the only way I can describe it. In the first couple of minutes 4 pairs of partners were already dead. Thankfully Hikaru and I are still alive and fighting. Us two and the leader and his partner are the four main fighters. We already depleted two of the monster's health bars and we are about to finish the third one. That's when it gets tricky because when the boss is on his last bar he pulls out this wicked sword and starts to fight with that one so I am waiting for that to happen. There we go, we just depleted the third health bar and he is pulling out his other sword and dropped the other one. I guess I wasn't the only beta on this attack team because the leader took a dangerous lunge right when the boss is swapping out its swords. Sadly he was to slow because the boss swiped him with his new sword right when I gave the monster a power attack that depleted the rest of his last health bar causing him to die. When the boss vanishes I rush to the leader the leader only has a few seconds to live and its not enough time to pull out a healing crystal. I look at him with a sad look as I say, "You were going for the rare item the boss drops when he dies." He just says, "Yeah I got a bit greedy about it. You need to listen to what I am about to tell you though. Since you are the only other beta I know you need to help out these players they have no idea how to play this game please help them finish all 100 floors." With that last sentence his health bar reaches zero and he disappears into the unknown.

I look at all of the scared players as a say, "Leader was a brave player that wanted to help clear the first boss with all of you. Sadly that is the only boss he gets to face but I won't be our last so we need to clear the game for Leader." For a couple seconds it was silent until the jerk said out loud, "How can we do that the beaters only got to level 25 and that took 6 months to happen." I flinch at beaters. It's the nickname they made for betas. They combined the words beta and cheater. I know that if I tried to help the like he wanted me to they would ignore me and do what I said not to so I am going to do what I think is best. I go into my inventory and take the gauntlets and leg bracers and I put on the rare black coat that the boss dropped. It is so long it goes all the way to my knees. Then is looked at the jerk as I said, "I am not a regular beater when I was in the game the first time I was on level 50." All around me there was shocked faces. Then the jerk stammers, "Your not a beater your worst than a beater." With that I turned and headed towards the portal to floor 2. When I was about half way there I felt a hand grab my arm and I was about to break it until I turned around and came face to face with Hikaru. He looks into my eyes for a second until he finally says, "Are you going alone." To answer his question I went to the options bar and I left our group. I didn't want to but I had to it will be safer for everyone if I became a lonely solo player. When he saw that I dropped out of our group he released my arm. I find myself turning my back on someone that treated me like a friend for the second time.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

It has been 3 months since we bet the first floor boss. During that time we have cleared 34 more floors. I am also up to level 85. Right now I am at a diner eating supper alone. I have been traveling alone like I said I would. Sometimes I hate being alone but then I remember how they treated me when they found out I was a beater during the floor 1 battle. Most of the time I enjoy being a solo player. I have no one that is tying me down and I can take breathers and no one cares. All I have to do is fight the floor battles. Ever since the first battle we have less casualties during the boss fights.

All of sudden a hand taps my shoulder causing me to return to the current time. At first I thought that it was the waiter with my food but it was not a waiter. Instead of a waiter it was a group of players in armor. The person that tapped me on the shoulder was a guy with spikey red hair and green eyes. Before I could say anything he beat me to it saying, "I am sorry to disturb you but you seem like a solo player right." I shake my head wondering why they wanted to know. My answer must have been what he was hoping for because he was smiling when he said, "Well the only reason we came over was because you looked lonely and you look like a capable swordswoman." When I gave him a blank stare he continues with, "What I am trying to say is that we would like to know if you would want to join our guild." I look around at all of them with a shocked look on my face. Counting the leader there are 6 members. There are 4 girls and two guys. The leader must have took my shocked look for something else because he adds in, "We mainly wanted you to join because we have a swordsman that is not yet refined in his skill so we need him for defense so we thought that maybe you could take his position as one of the attackers. I look over to the other guy, which causes him to blush and stare at his shoes. He was a tall and thin guy with messy blue hair and hazel eyes. I know his eye color because he looked back up only to notice that I was staring at him. With a slight blush I looked at the others. They look like they are friends not only in this game but also in real life. They must have waited in line with each other. They also look like their levels are half a high as mine is. Though that is not what I was really thinking about. What I was thinking was that after I do not know how long I have been given the chance of being in a group again. I guess I was a bit greedy about being in a group that I accepted.

Their guild is called "Children of the Night" which is a sad depressed name for a group filled with laughter and smiles. I never could understand that. I have been in the guild for 2 months now and during that time we have been on countless missions. I left them a couple of times to fight the boss fights but I would go straight back. We cleared another 10 floors.

I have learned the names of all of the members in the first week. They are all from America. The leader of the group is Jake. The four girl's names are Ashley, Morgan, Jamie, and Meagan. The shy guy that got put on defense is Aiden. Another thing I did during the past two months is that I would sneak out during the middle of the night to help Aiden. We would train for hours mainly because he wanted to get better at using the sword because the truth is that he hates being weak and unable to defend himself. He wants to help the attackers instead of being stuck defending. That is the reason why I have taken him under my wing and helped him with his sword skill because of the training I have grown close to Aiden. I haven't admitted it to him yet because I am nervous he doesn't feel the same way. I plan on telling him after we buy the house the guild is going to share.

Jake is gone to floor 35 to go buy the house. I cannot believe we finally have enough money to buy the house and the best part is that it is only 3 days until Christmas. He said he would be back in a couple of hours with the deed to the new house. Right now the rest of us are in my apartment. When suddenly Meagan comes up with a plan. While Jake is away buying the house we can go to the dungeon on floor 25. I am a bit uneasy about it but I still follow them.

As Jamie slashes through the last monster which looks like a cute little puppy but do not be fooled because when you get close enough it transforms into a savage beast so ugly with two long tusk like teeth in its mouth that has poison on it and if it even barely touches you it can kill you. Snapping back into reality I look around along with the others. Right now we are at a place in the dungeon we have never explored before. I remember the traps and other things from my time I went through the same dungeon while I was a beta tester. They do not know that I am a beta tester. They don't even know that I am at level 90. Suddenly Meagan says excitedly, "Hey I found a neat room." The others walk in with her and I follow a bit slower trying to see if I remember this room. To late I realize what this room is. This is a new addition of the dungeon that was not in the beta part, which means that it is a trap.


	8. Chapter 8

Another short one sorry.

Chapter 8

When I turn around to where the entrance is I see that I was too late because the door disappeared. I yell to them, "Get out your transportation crystals out and lets get out of here." I grab one of my own when I notice that we cannot transport. I have never came across a room that neutralizes transportation crystals not even in my beta testing time. Right when I put it away and pull out my sword the others do the same. Which came in handy since the monsters like the one Jamie just got done attacking appeared right when we pulled our weapons out. I would have had faith in my friends but the monsters were way past their levels. When I noticed that I started attacking monsters left and right not caring if I level up or get a dropped item. What I cared about was trying to get past the multitudes of monsters and get to my friends so that I could protect them. I was not fast enough. I saw Meagan, Jamie, Ashley, and Morgan die. Please let me be able to save Aiden. Right when I thought that I saw him. He was using the techniques I taught him but since his level was lower than the monsters it had little damage on them. Then his guard slipped and a monster slashed him. While he was falling he looked straight at me and smiled. He also said something but I could not hear him. Then he shattered into millions of pieces, which means he died. I was filled with sadness and anger as I killed the rest of the monsters. I would have been happy any other day since I leveled up twice and got some cool items that they dropped but I was filled with so much grief to care.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

When I told Jake about what happened he was devastated. He was so heart broken that on the same day he committed suicide to join them. I would have done the same but I was too much of a coward to kill myself. Instead I went back to being alone again.

On the day before Christmas Eve I was walking around when Rin came over to me. She is my informant in the game. If I need information she is the one who would give it to me. She was out of breath but she managed to say, "I know how to resurrect your friend Aiden." when she finished I let her catch her breath before I said, "They are dead though we can't save them when they are dead." With that she explains to me about a special boss that you can kill and he drops an item that can resurrect someone. With that I left her searching for the place where the boss will appear and I need to hurry because he appears at midnight on Christmas Eve.

I found the forest where he will appear and I only have twelve minutes until midnight. That is when I here the rustling. I pull out my sword ready to attack the monster. When I notice that it is not a monster but instead Henry. Following him are some pretty hard-core Goth people. When he notices me he runs up and gives me a huge hug. That is when I here more rustling and I thought it might be more of Henry's friends when I notice that he pulled out his sword too so I get in my attacking position. Out comes a person from "The Holy Knights" on of the biggest guilds in the game. It seems like he brought some friends too. He looks at us for a minute and chuckles as he says, "So you all must be here for the same reason we are. Sorry to burst your bubble but we are going to be the ones who get it." Henry bends down to my ear and whispers "Go find the boss and we will hold them back but you need to hurry." Taking his advice I run to the location Rin gave me.

I finally make it with one minute to spare. I feel bad abandoning him again but I need the item. I have to bring Aiden back to life. With that thought I hear, "Ho! Ho! Ho!" meaning that it is midnight and the secret boss has arrived. He looks real innocent with the Santa look but do not underestimate him. He will kill you the first chance that you give him. Let your guard slip and you are going to be dead meat. The battle takes a lot out of me but I manage to kill him. Then the item that can save Aiden drops into my hands.

I return to where I left Henry and they stop fighting. They all are waiting to see if I killed the boss or not. I shake my head and Henry beams at it. When I reach them I throw him something. When he notices that it is the rare item I tell him in a sad tone, "Here you can have it make sure to use it in the fist ten seconds that they die." When he understands that I am giving it to him because it was too late for Aiden he gives me a bear hug as I cry softly in his embrace.

I am sitting at my desk in my apartment when it officially became Christmas Day. I would not have cared about that if it wasn't for a notification I got. It says that I have a gift. When I opened it I found out that it was a crystal that you can record a message on. Again my curiosity got the better of me so I played the message.

I instantly regret it because right when I see whom the person who recorded the message was I was ready to bawl my eyes out. It was a message from Aiden. He looked sad as he says, "I hope this message is not needed and I end up throwing this away but if you are watching this Kari then that means that I am dead. I don't know if it is just me or if it is everyone but you that died either way I need you to listen to this. It is not your fault. I do not care how bad you feel about the death all of us or just me, it is not your fault. The only way it could be your fault is if you landed the killing blow. I need you to live your life and beat this game either for all of us or for me. I also have something else to tell you. I know that this may cause you even more heartbreak but I don't want this to go to my grave. I love you Kari. Ever since we started having late night sword lessons my feelings for you have grown. I was planning on telling you this on Christmas in person but I guess this is will have to do. Merry Christmas Kari and do me a favor and never forget me. I know it is a bit greedy but I do not want you to forget me but that should not stop you from falling in love." Then he smiled and the video ended. I sat there with tears streaming down my face. I slowly get out of my chair and head towards my bed. For the rest of the night I lay in my bed curled up in a ball crying over the loss of my friends and my first love.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Ever since the death of the guild "Children of the Night" I have made sure I stayed a solo player. If I got asked to join a guild I kindly declined. I still fought the boss fights but I also started a new job. Players that needed my help could hire me and I would help them with any task they needed. Most of the tasks were easy for me since I was at level 100 and they were asking me to do jobs that people with half of my levels could complete but I still did them anyway. It helped keep the loneliness at bay while also not putting people in danger. I enjoyed being needed. It kept me from going into a dark depression over the people I have lost. Right now I am walking around fields looking for something to hunt when I hear a scream.

The source of the scream was a pet. Yes I do mean a pet. There are players that are tamers, which means they have a pet. This one is a small blue dragon. It was screaming because a big ugly troll hit it. By the looks of it, its owner does not have a high enough level to kill it let alone it and its partner. I step in just in time to kill both trolls while saving the boy's life. Sadly I cannot say the same for the dragon. The hit it got earlier caused its already low health bar to go empty. All that is left of the dragon is a claw. The boy picks up the claw and starts to weep. Which is weird since he is easily two years older than me. When I could not take it anymore I cough loud enough for the boy to understand that I am still hear and I look at him as I say, "You do know that you can still save your pet." When I finish he has a look of hope on his face. I take that as my cue to continue, "The claw of your pet that you are holding is considered its heart and there is a place that tamers like yourself can take your pets heart after it dies and resurrect it but you only have three days to get there after the death of your pet." He looks at me with hope in his eyes as he says, "Really can you take me there please. I want her back she saved my life. I would have died because I was looking for another healing crystal when she went in the way of the troll's attack." I can see the guilt of it on his face so I can tell that it is important to him so I say, "Sure but let me warn you it is on the 47th floor." He noticed that it would be a hard journey for him with his level so I helped out by giving him my old armor, which boosted up his protection and I also invited him into a party with me.

We reached the hotel he was staying at so that he could get stuff for the trip. I stayed in the hallway giving him his privacy. When he was done he got out of the room and we headed for the door when a hand grabbed his arm. The owner of the arm is a girl around his age with long blond hair and blue eyes. She looks at him and says, "Come on Akio we all know that you are bluffing so come back to our party we need you." I can tell that is a lie the only reason that they keep him around is because of his looks not his monster taming skills but I don not have the courage to inform him that. He looks straight at her as he says, "Well I am sorry to tell you but I will be going on a quick three day journey to floor 47 do something important." She laughs when she hears the floor's number but she quits when she notices that he is serious and says, "But you don't have a high enough level to wander around up there." He smiles and says, "I know, that is why I joined her party. She has a high enough level to help me out." When he says her he points to me. Which means that I was the one that got the glare from her as she says, "She doesn't even look capable to kill a wild boar." That got me mad so as to prove my point I pull out my sword and attacked her with one hit. That one hit caused her to fly ten feet from where we are. I look at her with a scowl on my face as I say, "You better be lucky we are in a public area which means that my attacks will not hurt you but they will throw you a bit back and scare you." With that I sheath my sword and grab Akio by the arm and we leave.

We have already transported ourselves to level 47 and we are on our second day of traveling to the forest where the Everlasting Flower lives. Most of the way we have been silent when he finally breaks the silence by looking at me and saying, " Why did you come along with me and please be honest with me." I think for a bit and then I say, "Will you promise me that you will not laugh at me?" When he shakes his head slowly I continue with, "You remind me of my older brother." For a bit he was silent but then he chuckles and says, "I hope you do not have a crush on your brother." When he says that I was shocked that he would think that I would like a relative. Then when the shock resides I say, "Well I do not have a crush on him. I may be a bit jealous of him though." He looks at me weirdly and says, "What are you jealous about?" I take a deep breath and say, "I am jealous of him because even though he has the same tall and scrawny figure and yet when people see both of us they think that he is the one who protects me." He gives me a quizzical look as he says, "Why are you jealous about that?" I scowl and say, "It's a long story." He gave me a smile and says, "We also have a long journey so spill it."

I take a deep breath and start the long story off by saying, "Ever since I was little people thought that I was the one that needed to be protected because I was a girl. When I turned the age of six I thought that it was because I did not know how to defend myself so I persuaded my mom into letting me take sword lessons. Even after learning sword lessons they still did not treat me like my older brother even though I could be him in a sword fight when I was seven. I would have dropped sword fighting but I did not. I guess it was because ever since I held a sword for the first time I felt like I could do anything that I wanted even though I was a girl. That is why when I turned nine I started competing in competitions for sword fighting. I easily beat the all of the girls in Japan so the bumped me up to the guys section. At first they thought that I would not be able to win against a boy but then I shocked them when I fought the lowest ranking boy and I won without even breaking a sweat. It took awhile since there was a lot of boys that competed but I finally made it to the second place ranking with a record of having being undefeated in both the girls and boys section and my fight with the first place was finally happening. When I stood waiting for the first place holder and hearing people yelling at me that I should go back home that this was not something a girl should learn that I should instead learn how to take care of a house and my future husband but I could also hear people cheering for me. There were not a lot of them but they helped me from chickening out. That fight was not just for me but I was to prove that women are not as helpless as men think they are and that we are able to protect ourselves without their help. Then finally the boy that was in the slot I wanted came in finally. We both pulled out our swords and started fighting. The sword fight lasted for a long time and when time ran out of time the three judges were the ones who had to decide who won the match. Everyone knew I was going to win even the people who were telling me to go home knew I fought better than Riku which was the boy I fought. I guess I should have known that no matter how good I was they would chose the boy just because he was a boy and not because of his skill. When we heard that he won everyone started booing. Even Riku started booing. I just stood there and if anyone were looking at me they would see the steady stream off tears that ran down my face. To add on to that when I got home my mom sat me down and broke to me the news that she was not even my mom but instead my aunt and that my parents had died when I was a baby. I wanted to get away from all of my troubles and that is how I became addicted to online gaming because if I wanted to I could be anyone and no one would judge me by my gender but instead my skill on that game."

When I finished I waited for a response and when I did not get a response I looked over at him only to see that his face was red and that his fist were clinched. I was shocked by the display of anger and I was wondering what I said to make him angry when he says, "That is unfair you should have won that match instead they wanted to ruin a little girl's life by be biased by giving the match to Riku. At least I know why you are so good at this game." With that he smiles but I know that he is forcing it to make me feel better and it does make me feel better. Not because he smiled but because of instead of siding with the judges like any other boy I know would have done he sided with me. When I don't say anything he turns to me and says, "Not all guys are like that some like me do not judge the gender or the age but instead judges you by how you act and how you wield your sword in battle. Especially since that is what really matters since we are only half way through this game." He looks at me and notices that I have tears running down my face but we both know that they are not tears of sadness but instead tears of joy.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

We finally made it after two and a half days of travel. We had to fight a lot of monsters to get to where we are now. I turn to Akio and with a smile on my face I say, "This is the Eternal Garden. This is also the place that holds the Everlasting Flower which can resurrect you pet." With that we continue and after a couple of minutes a monster that looks like a giant fox with a tail split into three parts which each can be used to kill three different people. We both give each other a quick glance and we launch into battle.

Battling a monster that is meant to be fought by three people with only two people was a bit hard but since I was a higher level than the monster it made it a little bit easier for us. After splitting what it dropped in half we started again. After a minute or two we made it to the field of flowers that I was looking for. In the middle of the field stood a pedestal with nothing on it. I turn to him again and I say, "You are the only one that can do this but I will stay here and make sure that no monsters will attack you. You need to go to the pedestal and a flower will appear on it. When it appears you need to lay your pet's heart by it."

Doing as I instructed he walked up to the pedestal and the flower showed up for him and he laid his pet's heart by the flower and waited. For a minute nothing happened but then suddenly a bright light covered the flower and the claw. As suddenly as the bright light came it disappeared. Where the claw used to be now sits the small blue dragon I saw two and a half days ago.

With the pet we headed back to the town so that we can transport back to the floor where we met. We were about to cross the bridge when I hear something. I put my hand on Akio's shoulder causing him to stop. I say loud enough for the intruders to hear, "You can come out I know you all are hear. What do you think I am stupid?" with a laugh the girl that I met at the hotel comes from behind a tree. When she stops laughing she gives us a sly smile as she says, "I should have known that you would have good hearing." Akio steps forward and says, "What are you doing here Sara?" she laughs even more and says, "Because I want the Eternal Flower. I can rake in a lot of money if I sell it to the right person. I pull out my sword as I say, "I am ashamed that I have to do this but you give me no choice." I turn to Akio and say, "I am sorry but I have to kill these people. I hate to do this but I can not stay still as some orange cursors try to take a rare item for their own greedy desires." Sara is shocked that I knew there was more than just her and that I knew that she had an orange cursor. No matter how hard she tried to hide it. She recovers and she motions her hand forward. Around thirty people with orange cursors of their own come out of their hiding places. I look around innocently saying, "Can you give me a second as I get into a more comfortable outfit." Right now I am wearing full body armor and not for protection but it was so that Akio and the others did not find out whom I was. Since no one objected I took that as a yes so I went into my inventory and changed into my clothes I normally wear.

That gets a reaction from the people with the orange cursors. One of them turns to Sara and says, "Do you know who we are about to fight." She shakes her head slowly so the man continues saying, "That is the Black Swordswoman. She is known to be stone-cold to people that get on her bad side and any monster that comes near her never gets to land a blow to her because they are already dead. All because of the deaths of her guild mates that died in a monster ambush." With that Sara finally gets who I am. With a look of fear she says, "I thought you were at the front lines why would such a high level player be helping a low level player." I feel bad saying it but I have to so I take a big breath as I say, "I was not in the forest by pure chance. A person that was the sole survivor of his guild hired me. You and your group of orange cursors destroyed the guild he was in. I accepted the job because it reminded me a bit like what happened to me so I went to this floor and waited. Just like that you fell in my trap while you were making the trap for Akio. You wanted the flower but since you were not a tamer you found somebody who was a tamer. That is where Akio came in. You saw him as someone that could not protect himself so you got it to where you were a friend then you caused an argument to break out so that he would storm off by himself and he could get in danger and get saved by his pet. When his pet died you would come up to him and apologize for the fight and go to the flower with him. When he got the flower you would kill him and take the flower but there was a problem. I came along and saved him instead of you so you planned on ambushing two weak players and taking the flower for yourself. There is the other problem you have since we are both strong players." She laughs at the ending and says, "Your strength that everyone talks about you having is just a lie and I will prove it." With that she pulls out her sword and she says, "I am going to do you a favor and let you die as a good girl instead of having a orange cursor because you do not deserve to have one. To have one you have to have strength and you lack that." With that she went to he options and I get a request from her to do a duel.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

A duel in this game is quite simple. You fight someone and the one who has his or her health bar go into the yellow area then they lose the fight. I accept it saying, "If you win you can kill me but if I win one of your subjects have to kill you." She smiles and says, "I like that since I am going to win." The ten-second countdown starts then and we get in our starting pose. 10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1…0. When it reach the zero a giant start flashes between us and we begin the battle that decides who is going to die.

She is a good opponent when it comes to sword fighting. I almost broke a sweat with her. She tried her best to land a blow on me but I was too fast for her when she lunges for me I disappear from that spot and appear behind her startling her as I land the blow that put her in the yellow part of her health bar. She gets on her knees and starts to cry. I never met an orange cursor player that would cry but this one is. Which means I was not surprised that she tried to do a surprised lunge on me but I dodged it and looked at her companions and I say, "Hurry up and kill her or I will kill her myself and kill all of you." With that a strong man that looks like he could be the second command in this operation. He pulls out his sword and with a flick of his wrist he cuts the head off of her. When he finishes the deed I whistle a brief tone. A couple of seconds later the Army comes out from their hiding place. I did not want to kill her but they said that the only way they would help me with this mission was if she was dead.

When the Army and Sara's companions are gone I turn to Akio. I had braced myself for a look of fear on his face but I was surprised to see what his expression was. He was smiling at me like he was proud of me for what I did. I manage to ask him, "Why are you not scared of me or even mad at me for using you to lure them out." He shakes his head and replies, "I was for a minute but you did it for a good reason and plus it's not like I lost anything instead I gained something. I gained a friend that cares about the welfare of others." With that we start the trip back to the floor we met.

It took another day to get to the town but we did and we went through the portal to floor 30. When we came through the portal we walked to the hotel that he says him and his friends live at. When we enter the hotel his friends attack him with hugs. They were worried about him and when we told them the story of our adventures they look at Akio with a newfound respect for being able to fight monsters that were over his level. He did not take all of the credit though. He told them about how I helped him on the trip. When I left the 30th floor a couple of hours I had a new group of friends but I did not stay with them because they need someone in the front lines to fight for them since they cannot do it themselves.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

I wish I were in a different room than the one that I am in right now. I am at the strategy meeting to decide what to do with the boss of the 49th floor. My first partner I had in this game, Hikaru is holding the meeting. Since the first floor he has been on the front lines and he also joined "The Knights of the Round Table" which has the most players in it. He is also the vice president for it. That is why everyone is hanging onto his words for dear life except for me. I glare at him as I say, "I do not care if they are not real people that is still inhuman to do." I cannot believe that he wants to lure the boss out in a village. He would not risk lives of players but he would be willing to let computer-programed people die. Just because they can pop up again! He just shrugs and says, "Since you said on the first floor that you got through this floor how did you kill it." I thought for a bit to remember how I did fight it and when I do remember I say with a smile, "I used my sword that I got on the 49th floor's dungeon. Which I just got today." With that I pull out my sword to show them it. It was a sleek black sword that had the perfect amount of weight for me. It had intricate design at the handle but besides that it was a plain sword. A man that is a high level blacksmith comes towards me and asks if I would let him inspect it. I hand it over to him and he pulls up the info tab on it, which only blacksmiths can do. A look of shock crosses his face but then a sad look replaces it as he says, "This is one of the finest swords in this game but you can't fight with it because it is past any of our levels. You have to be a level 125 to be able to wield it." I look at him and shake my head as I say, "You wound me Eric. You think that I would carry around a sword for a fashion sense. I am sorry to break this to you but I reached level 130 this morning when I went to fetch it." That got a lot of shocked looks. No one did objected to what I claimed because everyone knows that when it comes to my level I do not lie about it. When the silence continued to stretch I look at Hikaru as I say, "If you want I can go alone and fight this boss I did it last time alone and I can certainly do it again." When I thought he was going to yes he instead said, "You may be a great swordswoman but you are not going to hog the spotlight of fighting a boss alone. That is why I am going to join you. I may only be at level 120 but I can keep up with you. Since if I remember correct we were partners in a boss fight before." With that it was settled that Hikaru and me would go and fight the 47th floor's boss.

A lot have changed since the last time that we partnered up for the both of us. Hikaru has been on a path that has not caused his any pain while I have been on a painful road since the start and no one can change that. What I did not know though is that people can make you forget about the pains of your life. We have been only on the 49th floor for a couple of hours and I already forgot about the gapping hole of pain that I have been carrying around since the deaths of the best friends I have made in the game world and even in the real world. While I have been traveling with Hikaru he has reminded me of how I felt when I was with "The Children of the Night" I mentally scowl myself because I was about to jump into the dark hole of depression. Before I can have the chance of thinking of the again I turn to Hikaru and say, "Why did you come with me anyway because I know you do not care about being in the spotlight." He tone is sad as he says, "I was scared you volunteered to fight the boss because you thought it was a suicide mission." I guess I am not real great at hiding my depression from people. He continues saying, "I heard rumors floating around about a black swordswoman that dance with death on a daily basis and I knew that it was you." Before I could respond to what he says he adds, "You do not have to be depressed because you are stuck in this game. One day we will bet the game and you can go home." I let out a bitter laugh as I say, "I am not a weakling that sits in a corner crying about how it is not fair I am in this game. I may be depressed because I have seen things in this game that normal people would not be able to deal with but I am not a normal person. I get up thinking of the people that I have lost in this game and the people that I met in this game that cannot fight for themselves and how I am going to bet this game for them. I am not someone that would kill myself because of how unfair life is. Instead I fight against the depression and I put one foot in front of the other because if I kill myself it would be like spitting in the faces of the people that have helped me and died because of it. It would also be like giving the killing blow to the ones that can't fight for themselves so keep that in mind when you think that I might be suicidal." I must have really shocked him by what I said because it took a couple of minutes before he could say, "I am sorry if I offended you I guess I should not have jumped to conclusions." I sighed, "I guess I should have been a little nicer to you but that was a subject you should never broach around me." he shakes his head and we continue walking

I guess he does not like silence because after a couple minutes he started joking around and I could not help it, I laughed. It felt good to laugh because no matter how much pain you are in a good laugh can cause you to forget it. For the first time I did not think about Aiden and the others.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

It took a day and a half to reach where the scouts found the boss's lair. During the trip we had to fight multiple cat versions of hydras. We killed them with out working a sweat. During the trip we learned the other's fighting pattern so we made a good pair. Right now we are standing in the entrance of the cave that it lives. We looked at each other silently and we entered the cave.

The boss we are facing has five health bars that we have to deplete. It may sound easy for us but the boss was a level 100 monster and to add onto that it fights with two weapons one for each head. I already briefed Hikaru about that and I was going to fight the right head and he fights the left head. What I did not brief him about is that the right head is harder to fight since it has a high level sword. That and when he gets on his last bar his right head's level boosts up to a level 125 while the other stays a level 100.

While I toke my brief escape of reality we entered the main corridor and we need to get to the door straight ahead. I still have no idea how Hikaru was planning on getting the monster out of the cave. It takes both of us to be able to push the door open. Sitting on a throne sits the two-headed boss. He has red skin and wears no clothes except for the bottom part of the armor. On it is as a belt is a line of heads of players from the beta test and even the few scouts that wanted to fight him for bragging rights. He has eyes are different colors because they change every second. The only reason I know that is because the boss's four eyes were trained on us as he found his pairs of skulls to go on his belt.

All three or four if you want to be technical pulls out our swords. When the boss pulls out his swords he stands up and charges. We both go different ways and we start our attack. I sure am lucky that I found my sword today because I might have been dead if I had a weak sword against this monster. Hikaru is all right with his sword because he has speed to dodge while I focus on force of my hits. We do pretty well even though we are fighting a monster that is supposed to be fought by more than two players. We are both sweating badly but we are still doing well. We have depleted three of his health bars and we are about to deplete his fourth one. When we do the right head levels up just like last time I fought him. Instead of getting scared about that it just makes me want to work harder. I increase my speed and the amount of his I hit him. It gets a little blurry around then all I remember is that I have to bet this boss no matter how long it takes and then finally we deplete his last health bar and he falls down dead. When I notice that I put my sword away and I look at Hikaru, which has a look of surprise on his face. I laugh a bit as I say, "Are you surprised that we actually beat a boss by ourselves. I thought you would have more faith in our skills than that." He swallows as he says, "Do you remember the last part of the battle Kari." I think for a bit and answer a bit nervously, "No, it went a bit blurry when the right head leveled up. All I remember is thinking that I need to be faster and that I needed to increase the number of hits I landed on it." He looks at me for a while and with a slow measured voice he says, "When we depleted the last health bar the left head landed a blow to me and I flew ten feet from the fight. That's when I saw that both of the heads had leveled up to level 145 each and that they were both fighting you at the same time. I would have tried to help you but then I saw that they were not landing a blow to you and that you were attacking the with a speed so fast that you were a blur to me." I was shocked that I was able to fight the two heads alone when they were 15 levels above me. That's when I noticed I had two notifications. The first one had the experience and the things that it dropped so I sent half of them to Hikaru and kept the other half. The other notification shocked me and if I did not believe what he told me this would make me a believer. It was a notification saying that I leveled up all the way up to level 140.

We talked for a bit then all of a sudden he sighs and says, "Your not coming back with me are you." A give a sad smile as I say, "If you knew what happens to my friends when I am near you will understand." He steps forward and says, "Why don't you tell me what happens then." I step in front of the portal and look over my shoulder I say, "When they stay with me for too long they end up dying because of it." With that I step into the portal that leads to the 50th floor.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Since the 50th floor I learned to relax. It helped a lot since it helped me forget. Everyday the depression gets more and more bearable. I do not have to force myself out of bed because I was always ready for the day ahead of me. Even though I am in a game does not mean that it should make my life a living hell. Instead I should enjoy the time in here since it is a nice place. Right now I am lying under a tree on the 53rd floor. Its shade is wonderful and the breeze is soothing. If I did not hear feet coming across the path next to the tree I would have jumped when I hear someone say, "Kari what are you doing under that tree!" I look up only to see Hikaru with a scowl on his face. With a smile I say, "I am enjoying the wonderful day we are having. If you want you can come join if you want." when I finish I pat the area next to me. I do not know what shocked him. That I was relaxing under a tree doing absolutely nothing or the fact that I offered him to do the same. I think it was a mixture of both of the. He is still shocked but he manages to say, "I thought that you were fighting for the friends that you lost and the ones who can't fight for themselves." I got a bit exasperated when I answer with, "No one has found the 60th boss's hideout so I am relaxing until then." It looked like he is about to turn around and leave but he lets out a sigh and lies down in the grass too.

I guess it was so comfy under the tree I fell asleep. I know that because I am in the sort of state that you are awake but you are also asleep right now. All I know is that it feels good outside and that my head was laying on something soft. That is weird I always thought that the ground was sort of hard. I am not on the ground. I know that because the ground does not move! I wake up and bolt up taking note of my surroundings. The soft pillow I was using was Hikaru's stomach. He looked startled but that would be normal if all of a sudden a person laying down sleeping bolts upright all of a sudden. I guess he knew what I was thinking because he says, "You fell asleep a little after I laid down with you and the next thing I knew you moved you head on my stomach. I would have woken you up but you seemed at peace while you were asleep so I let you sleep on my stomach that is the truth." I can tell he is not lying because of how he was acting so I said, "That's alright I believe you." With that I laid back down. I guess he got comfortable to because a half hour later and he was sleeping. He looked different when he was asleep. Instead of worry lines on his forehead it was smooth and had no trace of worry on it. He even had a small smile on his lips will he was sleeping. All of a sudden a big yawn escapes my mouth. I guess I am still tired so I turn my back to him and I fall asleep.

When I wake up I notice two things. The first thing is that it is almost dark outside and the second thing was that Hikaru had his around me. It was my turn to not wake him up so I close my eyes and I was about to go back to sleep when I feel movement behind me. I guess that was when he waked up because the next thing I hear him yelp and jump back. I turn to him and see that his face is the reddest I have ever seen on anyone before. He notices that I am awake and says, "I am so sorry I guess I did that when I was asleep." I give him a soft smile as I say, "I guess we are even then. We both did something embarrassing in our sleep so let's forget about it okay." He shakes his head and notices that it is almost dark outside. He looks at me and says, "Its almost nighttime so I guess I better get home." I shake my head and say, "Yeah me too. See you at the next strategy meeting." He smiles and answers back, "You better because if you do not come I will look under every shady tree until I find you." With that we go our different ways. I find myself thinking, "It seems like I gave up pushing him away." I guess it was because no matter how many times I push him away he always comes back. I guess the only reason I am not trying hard enough is that I am starting to hate pushing people away. I do not have to push everyone away just because I am paranoid about being near people. I guess not everyone that hangs around me drops dead.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Just like I promised him when it came time for the strategy meeting for the 49th floor's boss I went. We spent a while talking about the strategy that we were going to use to fight the boss with. When we finally decided what strategy we were going to use we went on to discuss the number of people that will fight in the battle. Straight of the bat people asked if Hikaru and me would fight the boss again and is turned down immediately. When they wanted to know why we could not put me being a beater to good use, I step in reminding them that the highest boss that I had fought when I was a beta was the 50th floor's boss. With that they decided to have 100 people sent in which included Hikaru and me.

Thankfully we bet the boss and all we lost were a couple of people. The only reason we lost them were because they did a risky move so that they could be the one who killed it. The ones that landed the last move were Hikaru and I. it was mainly because we did our power move at the same time. When the boss died Hikaru looked at me with a smile on his face as he says, "Since you fulfilled your promise I am going to give you a reward." When he saw my confused look he laughed and continued saying, "I am going to take you out to eat on the 50th floor." I think I know the restaurant that he wants to go it's called "Olive Garden" which was named after a restaurant in America. I guess the player who opened it missed home.

I was right because right now I am sitting in a chair sitting with him waiting for our food to come. We were chatting about random things when I hear a scream and bolted out of the restaurant. The person who screamed was a man around his twenties and he was standing on a balcony. The reason he screamed shocked me to my core. The reason that he screamed was because there was a sword sticking out of his stomach. I rushed to the building that the balcony was on hoping I can get there before he dies. Right when I rush into the room he was in he died vanishing into the unknown. I thought that people could not die in a safe zone. If we are not safe in a safe zone where are we safe?

Hikaru and me decided to find out how he died. We have come to the conclusion that he either got asked a duel while he was sleeping and the person who sent it to him mad his sleeping self accept and trust me that is nothing new. The other thing we came to the conclusion was that if it was not that then that means that they found a new way to killing someone in a safe zone. The only thing we can use to identify the killer with is the murder weapon. Which was a sword. Since swords cannot speak that is pretty much a dead end. Going back to the conclusion we stepped out on the balcony and I shouted, "Look for a victors screen on a player if they have one then they are the murderer." With that everyone was looking for the screen notification that says that you won the duel. No one found it so that means that the murder found a new way to kill someone in a safe zone.

When we gave up looking for a victor's notification we changed course. Now we are going around asking if they knew who the victim was. Every time we asked we got no's until finally we got a yes. It was from a small girl with purple hair and it looked like she has been crying. We went to the hotel that she said that she was staying at so that we could question her in privacy. When we made it to her room she sat down and told us whom the victim was. His named was Alex and he was one of her closet friends. They were here to catch up since they have not seen each other for a while. She also told us that when she looked up to see him getting killed she thought that she saw a shadow of a person as they impaled Alex. With that we went to a blacksmith to learn more about the sword that killed Alex.

We went to the Grimm brothers who were skilled blacksmiths. The oldest grabbed the sword softly and inspected its info tab. He looked at us and says, "The sword's name is "The Dark Knight" and it was specially made by a person by the name Tora Hayashi. When we went to tell the girl about what we found I saw a flash of recognition when I said the name of the sword's maker. When I asked if she knew the sword's maker she admitted that she knew who the maker was. He was the vice-president of a guild she used to be in. That is when she went on telling how she and Alex had any connection with the weapon's maker. They were in a guild called Golden Sanctuary, which had 5 other members not including the three of them. The president of it was a man named Akihiro, which was Tora's in game husband. One day the guild found a rare item and voted on whether they should sell it or keep it. Three of them voted to keep it and use it while the other 5 voted to sell it. Akihiro went to sell it but she got killed while going to sell it. The girl whom she said her name was Amaya said that the person that killed Alex is targeting the people that had went against Akihiro's orders. She told us the name of a character that was in the guild and that might be the next victim.

It took a while but we find the person she told us about his name is John. He is in the guild, The Holy Knights. We brought him to Amaya's hotel room. When he sat down they caught up for a bit but the she told him what we brought him here for. At first he did not believe us but then he ended up believing us. Which was great since it is better if he understood why we were going to be around him a lot. Since he was one of the ones that wanted to sell it that means that he might be killed next. That or Amaya is the next one which is why we are going to split up. I will watch Amaya and Hikaru will watch John. Right when we were going to part ways. Amaya, which was sitting in, the window seat suddenly fell to the floor. We would have thought that she was tired and that she fell asleep but we knew better because sticking out of her back was a knife. A masked people standing outside the window must have thrown it. Before I could make eye-to-eye contact with the killer they turned and started running.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

I leaped out of my chair and chased after the person that killed Amaya. The killer was running on the rooftop of a building across from the hotel and they had a head start but I was in track in the real world. Using my years of being the fastest person on my school's girl team. I ran as fast as I could run without making a mistake like falling off the roof. When I got close enough to the mysterious killer that I would be able to jump over and get them. They pull out a transportation crystal and transport to an unknown place.

When I got back to the room Hikaru was holding Amaya and she had her hand under her shirt trying to take the knife out. Right when I was about to get the knife out of her back when her health bar hit zero and she vanished.

When she was gone John freaked out. He looked at us and says, "Oh my gosh, I am the next victim I know I the ghost of Akihiro is going to kill me now!" We were a bit shocked by the declaration of it being a player's ghost. It is a bit hard to understand that because when a player dies their body and everything about them dies in this game so how can a player's soul come back and haunt someone.

After a bit of planning we sent John to a safe and secure place to rest. Right now Hikaru and me are sitting on a bench. I was about to pull out my lunch when Hikaru handed me something wrapped in a cloth. When I took the cloth off of it I noticed that it was a sandwich. The thing that perplexed me was that I have never seen a sandwich like that in a store so I looked at him and asked, "Where did you buy this? Is it from a secret store that you found or what?" I could tell that he was embarrassed when he answers, "I did not get it from a store I made it myself." That shocked me into silence so instead of replying I just picked it up and ate it. It was so good that I accidently dropped it and when it fell to the ground it vanished just like a player does when it dies. He was about to say something like **_since you dropped your sandwich I am not sharing mine_**_._ Instead I interrupted before he could even take the breath for the sentence with, "Does all items vanish." Hikaru thought for a moment and answered, "I would think that since you are a beta you would know but I guess you probably did not come across this problem since you are a beta. If lets say armor gets attacked real badly then after a bit it will disappear. All items are like a player at some point it disappears just like your sandwich. Which since you dropped I will not share mine." I would feel proud of myself for predicting the right thing but I was too busy thinking. I asked my next question, "What happens to the inventory of a married person?" When I asked that I think that made him blush but I could not tell. He answers my question with, "When you get married with someone then that would mean that you would both share the same inventory. Like the term, what mine is your and what yours is mine. If your spouse dies then you will keep the stuff in the inventory." I looked at Hikaru and say, "Lets go to Alex and Amaya's graves."

It took a while but I made it to the cemetery where they were buried. On the way I told Hikaru about the theory that I had put together. What I think that happened is this. Alex and Amaya are still alive and they just merely faked their deaths by using teleportation crystals when their armor was about to disappear because if they just transported we would know but since the armor had "died" it looked like they actually died instead of just transporting. When I finished explaining he asked me why I had said I should go to their graves and my answer was simple. They had both been buried at the same cemetery that Akihiro got buried at. That is when we both went our different ways on two different tasks.

When I found that we were not the only ones that wanted to visit his grave so I hid on a tree branch and watched the person. The person was wearing a hooded cloak and after a couple of seconds waiting they took it off. Standing in front of the grave was John. He looked scared as he said, "I am so sorry Akihiro I did not mean to do it to you." Then out of the shadows came out a figure in a cloak. Looking at it I guess that he thought that it was the ghost of Akihiro and continued even more scared saying, "I was just following the instructions that I was given I did not know that it was going to be the death of you. I just wanted to join the Holy Knights and they said that I can if I do a contract for them successfully." When he finished talking he saw another shadowy figure coming towards him and he starts crying as he says, "Do not tell me you killed yourself Tora! I know you loved Akihiro a lot but I did not know you loved him THAT much!" Finally the first figure says, "No, John she did not commit suicide and we did not die either." With that my theory is proven because after the figures withdrew their hoods we saw the faces of Alex and Amaya staring at John. He looks at them in shock and right when he is about to say something to them they get surrounded. I noticed two things right away one of them is that on their right hands they had an angel with horns and a pitchfork, which means that they are in the guild called "Death Angels." The second thing I knew was that it was a notorious player-killing guild, which means they want to kill them. I jump out of the tree scaring the three of them until they noticed who I was and Alex says, "How did you find out." I wave that off as unimportant and face the Death Angels guild members. I look at the and say, "Let me guess you were hired to kill these three." Which was a statement that was obvious that I was shocked to see that THEY were shocked that I knew. Okay I knew that they were stupid but I did not know they are really THAT stupid anyway I just need to stall for a bit longer. I turned to the one that looked the stupidest and knew that he would be the leader of this group. I look at him and say, "Funny I would have thought that you all would know that I would come down to hunt your little guild down." The guy laughed at me and says, "And who may you be." I made an overly fake shocked look as I say, "You do not know me I am wounded." The shocked looked act dropped and instead a smirk takes its place as I say, "too bad because if you knew who I was you would be running for the hill." That made him laugh even harder as he says, "Let me guess are you the legendary Black Swordswoman." When I clapped my hands in applause he noticed that he got it right. He also noticed what I was wearing and my sword, "The Black Crusader." When he put those three things together I could tell because he started to tremble and sweat and would not even make eye-to-eye contact with me. Then he surprised me again and drew his sword it shakes but it was drawn. He looks at me in the eye and says, "I don't care who you are but we got hired to kill these three people and we are going to kill them." Before I could intimidate him any farther I heard someone behind him say, "Well I guess I came just in time for the fight." Behind him stood Hikaru with his sword drawn. I guess they knew who he was because all of a sudden they fled. Which was great since I did not want to fight them. I turned to Hikaru and he nodded his head yes which meant that his part of the mission was done. I turned to Alex and Amaya and asked, "How did you know that John was the person who killed him." They looked at me then Alex slowly said, "Tora told us that he did it. Why does that matter?" I knew it that is why it hurt my heart when I said, "Because it was Tora that hired the Death Angels to kill you three and it was also Tora that hired John to kill Akihiro."


	18. Chapter 18

Please Review!

Chapter 18

Before they could say anything I motioned to Hikaru. Hikaru went into the shadows and came back with Tora. She looked a bit mad that Hikaru was handling her so roughly. She was about to complain when I interrupted her by saying, "Did you know that if you marry someone that you share his or her inventory." She laughed and said to me, "Everyone knows that it does not need a rocket scientist to figure that." I continue as if she never said anything by saying, "You were one of the ones that voted for the ring to be sold right?" she shakes her head so I continue, "We all know that Akihiro never made it to the market to sell it. What confuses me is what happened to the ring since John obviously did not take it where did it disappear. Then it hit me that the ring never disappeared instead it just went to someone else's inventory. That inventory that it went to was yours since he was your spouse you inherited all of the items that were on his body when he died." Alex, Amaya, and John looked shocked when Tora said, "Bravo a simple girl like you managed to barely even know me and yet you found out what my deep dark secret is. I admit I hired John to kill my husband and I admit that I hired the Death Angels to kill Alex, Amaya, and John but I had a good reason for it." I look at her as I say, "Murdering someone no matter what the reason is not alright but go ahead and tell me what your great reason was." She tilts her head toward the sky in a defiant look as she says, "I did it because he was not my husband. As you know he was also my real life husband and at home he was a silent man that stayed at home and did the entire house cleaning and cooking while I went to work. We both went in the game as a couple date sort of thing since we both enjoy video games but ever since we got trapped in the game he changed. Instead of the quiet stay at home husband I was used to he became a bold and strong person. He became someone else that is why I wanted him to die because the person in my husband's body was not my husband but someone else." When she finished talking she looked around thinking that we would all agree with her but I know for sure that I was repulsed and so was the others. Amaya walked up to her and with a barley-concealed anger in her voices she says, "You killed your husband just because he came out of his shell and became the person that he should be." Tora looks at her like what she just got told hurt says, "The way you worded it makes it sound like a heartless person that killed him for a stupid reason." Amaya threw her hands in the air and yells, "Because it you ARE a heartless person and it WAS a stupid reason." Before a catfight could break out I break them apart and then I looked at Tora and ask, "You also wanted the ring didn't you. I am not stupid because when he died you got the ring in your inventory for yourself."

He admitted that he did take it and after a little while I let Alex, Amaya, and John have Tora and told them they could decide what they wanted to do with her. They could take her to jail or they could kill her I did not really care. Before they left Hikaru came up to Tora and with a malicious tone says, "Let me set you straight on something. You did not love your husband you merely loved having him as a possession. Which is sick because you should not treat your spouse as a possession but as a person." With that they left leaving us in the cemetery alone. Since we were already here I wanted to go see the grave of Akihiro. I wanted to pay my respects to him. When we got there we stood there for a while when suddenly a miracle happened. Right above the grave there is a pale ghostly figure hovering. The ghost looked like a man, which meant that it could be the ghost of Akihiro. For proof the ghost looked at us with a sad smile on his face as he says, "Thank you for finding my murder." With that he disappeared. We stood in silence staring at the place where Akihiro's ghost was hovering. Hikaru was the one that broke the silence by saying in a solemn voice, "If I ever get married I will make sure that I will not kill my wife for coming out of her shell. It would just give me something new to love about her." I shake my head in agreement while making an oath with myself that I will never treat people like they are my possession.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

I officially hate being lost. Right now I am trying to find the blacksmith place that is on the 48th floor. Right when I was going to call it a quits I see a sign in front of a building that reads, "Beth's Smith Shop" with that I head into the building. Inside it has some pretty nice weapons. She must be a good blacksmith to be able to make weapons like these. Which means that I am in the right place. I look around since she is with a customer. When she gets done then I will come up to her for her assistance.

While I was looking at a particular sword I heard someone say to me, "My store may have a door on it but that does not mean that anyone can come in. The only kind of player that needs to come into my building is someone who has enough money to buy one of my weapons. Which by the looks of it, it seems like you are someone that does not have enough money so why don't you just exit my shop with some dignity." I turn to see that the girl that I presume was the owner Beth. I smile as I say, "You know you wound me thinking that I came here just to window shop. I came here to buy one of your best swords." With that she apologizes to me very quickly which is amusing since just a second of go she was trying to kick me out of her shop.

She told me to wait for a minute and that was three minutes ago. I would go in to where she went to see what was holding her up. Right when I was going to take that first step towards the place is right when she came out holding a sword delicately. She sees me looking at it so she smiles and says, "This is one of my best swords that I have ever made." With that she handed it to me. It was a simple looking sword that barely had any decorations on it but its looks can be deceiving. I pull out my own sword and I was about to hit the other sword with it when she shrieked out, "What are you doing. If you do that then your sword will break!" I smile at her and I say, "Then I would know that this is a strong sword and I would buy it gladly." With that I swing my sword down and attack the sword. I guess I surprised Beth by the outcome because she has a shocked look on her face as she says, "You broke my strongest sword like nothing. It looked like you were just cutting something soft like butter when you were actually cutting some of the strongest metal I have came across." I shrug and say, "Well I know metal that is way stronger than that. Strong enough to break my sword." She looks at me surprised as she says, "I hope you do not mean the myth of the rare mineral that is from a dragon eating crystals." I look at her studying her as I slowly say, "it is not am myth there is a rare mineral formed by dragons. Which I am going to go get and bring back to you so that you can make my sword out of it." She looked shocked about that I do not know if it was the part where I go and get it or the part about her staying behind. I get my answer when she says with a smug look, "You do know that I have to go." Before I could say anything she puts her hand in the air asking me to wait as she adds, "To be able to get the mineral you will have to have a blacksmith of high level and by the looks of it you do not seem like a blacksmith of high level. Which I am a high level blacksmith so it is either I go with you or you will not be able to get the mineral."

A day later we reach the top of the mountain on the 55th floor. Which is where the dragon that makes the mineral lives at. I turn to Beth and say to her seriously, "I know that you are a high level blacksmith but you are not a high enough swordswoman to be able to fight this dragon so I want you to hide behind a crystal as I fight this monster." I knew that she would object me so I was ready to tie her up to a crystal so that she was safe but she shocked me by saying ok and even hiding a while back. With that I turn to where the dragon lives and I continue the walk.

I was ten feet from where Beth was hiding when the dragon leaped out of its hiding place. I pull out my sword and ready myself for battle. The dragon is a pretty high-leveled monster so I was glad that I told Beth to hide because I know for sure that I would not be able to fight the monster while protecting her too. I got the monster down to half of its health when the worst thing happened and it was not that I got hurt since the dragon has not even been able to land a blow on me that would affect me real bad instead it involved Beth. I guess that she thought the battle was over because she jumped out of her hiding place and started cheering. When she noticed that the dragon was still alive she tried to go back to her hiding place but it was too late because the dragon has already spotted her. With a mighty roar it sent a gust of wind towards her, which causes her to go soaring. Soaring into the hole that the dragon had come out of. The hole that might not have an end and if it does have an end then it will be far until you reach it.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Before I could lose visual I ran after Beth and grabbed her in the air and while we were falling I positioned her body on top of mine so that I would be the one that gets the main impact when we reach the bottom.

Thankfully it has a bottom the only thing I have a problem is that I was right about the depth of it. It was around 25 feet deep. Which meant that when we hit the bottom it hurt like hell for me. I even blacked out for a couple of seconds because of the drop. When I did regain conciseness I saw Beth in front of my face leaning over me using a healing crystal on me. She sees that my eyes are open and she says, "I am so sorry I thought that the fight was over so I was cheering for you but I guess that the fight was not over and when I went to hide back where I was the monster went an blew that big gust of wind at me. I thought that I would die in a big hole for the rest of my life but then you jump over and help me and then I thought that now we can be in the hole together and figure out what we should do so that we can get out of here and then I could go hide again and make sure that I would not get out of my hiding spot while you fight the dragon over again." I know for sure that if I had not shushed her, she would have continued talking forever and that would get very annoying. When she calms down some I say to her in a serious tone, "I know that we are in this hole and it might be a bit scary for you but I need you to calm down. Now have you checked to see if we could teleport out of here." She looks at me like she did not think of it at all and that I was smart to think of that or it might be my big ego saying that. Either way she pulls out her crystal and tries to teleport. When she does not teleport she gets nervous and was about to go into the very long talkative mode when I say, "It is okay so just take a deep breath. If they did not make it to where you can teleport out then that means that there is a way out because they want us to have an exciting death instead of sitting at the bottom of a hole dying a slow boring death. We just need to find out the way out." With that we both sat down and started thinking.

After a while of sitting I could not stand staying still so I got up and started pacing. Beth came up with some ideas but the more of them she proposed the more outrageous they got. Than when she gave up she threw her hands in the air in a fit of rage and says, "I give up! The only way you could get out without help would be to run up the walls but that is just plain ridiculous." My face lights up as I look at her and say, "I think that is the best plan you made so far."

I stopped pacing and found a good part of the circular hole. I back up to the opposite side as Beth nervously is talking about how stupid of an idea this was and that I could get hurt but I just toned her out. I got into the position that my track coach taught me to get in when I am about to race and after a short pause I launch myself of the wall and start running to the wall. I got two feet of the wall when I started to lose traction so I jumped off of the wall and landed on another part of the wall and started running again. I was a foot away I could almost get a hold of the edge was when I fell back down. To lessen the blow a bounced of the walls and I did not faint again when I hit the bottom of the hole. When I caught my breath I looked at the shocked Beth and said with a grin, "Did you see that I almost got to the top?"

After hours of debating how we could get to the top of the hole it became apparent that we would not find the answer tonight. With that we pulled out sleeping bags out of our inventory and lay down. I was about to doze off when I heard her ask, "Have you fell in love with someone in this game before." I was a bit taken back by the question but I think for a bit. With a solemn tone I answer, "Yes I have." She was shocked that I said have instead of do. I turn to her and I told her the story about the guild I was once in and about Aiden and his message he left. With that she sat up and she motioned towards me for a hug. Feeling like a weak defenseless person I go to her for a hug. When her arms are around me, my stone wall that I had built around my friends and my true love broke as did I. I broke down in front of a person that I barely knew. I sobbed my eyes out over the pain like it was just the other day that they died. When I ran out of tears I turned to her and I admitted, "I used to do this all of the time. I would wake up and while I was getting ready I would break down crying. Then I met someone and they made me give life another go. I hide my pain inside a walled fortress so that that person would never have to see the pain in my eyes. Then when I was crying in your shoulder I was finally able to take the fortress down and let there memories free because they may sadden me but that just makes me want to bet this game more so that people will not have to share the same pain as I did." Beth nods understanding what I was talking about. After a couple seconds of silence I break it by saying, "Now that you know my answer it is only polite to ask you the same. Have you ever fell in love with someone in this game." When I finish I notice that her cheeks are red as she says, "I am not in love with them as you did with Aiden but I do have a crush on them. Mainly because of how he fights for what he believes in and plus his looks play a factor in it too." When she says the last part she could not help herself, she started giggling. After her fit of the giggles were done I say, "The suspense is killing me. Who is your crush, you can tell me I might not know him so I won't tell him." She pauses as she pretends to think about it. When I am about to die because of the suspense she looks around like there could be someone else in the hole that might be eavesdropping on the conversation and whispers, "His name is Hikaru." I am shocked when I ask, "Is it the vice-president of 'The Knight of the Round Table' Hikaru or is it some other one?" It was her turn to be surprised as she saw that I actually knew the person. She looks at me shocked as she says, "You know Hikaru." I shake my head yes and told her how we met at the first level boss meeting and our adventures together since then.

When I finish the story she looks at me and says a bit sadly, "You both seem to have a lot of adventures together." I look at her and I say, "Hey, cheer up it's not like we are a couple I would not even be surprised if he knew if I was a girl so you still have a chance to swoop in and steal his heart." With that she smiles and goes to sleep.

When Beth wakes up she finds me looking around the snow. She comes over and bends down next to me. When she gives up on trying to find out what I am doing she asks, "Kari what are you doing digging around in the snow." I dig for a minute and then I find what I was looking for. When I have it in my hand I look up at her smiling as I say, "You remember how I told you that the dragon eats the crystal to form the material. Well I thought that the material would be in it's stomach when we kill it but then I thought what if it just went right through it like food goes through us. It seems highly unlikely that the material would stay in its stomach forever so I started digging around here and I found it. I threw the material at her and she caught it. After a minute or so she finally understood that she was holding dragon poop and she dropped it rubbing her hands on her pant legs with the funniest faces ever. Then she shot up with a look of alarm as she looks at me and asks, "Why was it here though." I look at her and say, "Because this is where the dragon sleeps." I guess she did not want to know that because she looks around the den and up in the air and said, "If this is where the dragon sleeps then we are in trouble. Dragons are nocturnal animals which means that they sleep during the morning and if I am not mistaken it is morning right now." With that a giant shadow covers the den.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

I look up and see the dragon soaring over the den. I look at Beth and I say, "Come here I have to hold you." She was a bit shocked with what I said but she still came up to me. I grab her by the side and just as the dragon dives down I jump up and I pull out my sword. I stab the dragon between its wings and it soared into the air above just like I planned on it doing.

I look over to were I have Beth positioned in my arms. She has her eyes scrunched up. I laugh as I say, "Beth open your eyes your missing the view." With that she slowly opens her eyes as we break through the clouds. We look around in awe as we see the beauty that is past the clouds it looks like it came right out of a painting. It has such beautiful reds, oranges, and yellows mixed so seamlessly that it looks so majestic.

After taking a look at the beautiful scenery, I turn to Beth as I say, "We need to go now. Since we are out of the den we can teleport now. Which means that when I let go of the dragon in a bit I need you to teleport to the floor your smith shop is on. I will be there with you." With that I took my sword out of the dragon and we started to fall. We both took our crystals out and we went to her smith shop.

We made it to her smith shop and she went to work. She pulled out the mineral from the inventory she laid it on the anvil. It took only one hit with a hammer but yet again everything in this game got simplified it takes all of the joy of taking the time and effort to make something. Well after she hammered it the mineral started to shine and then the next thing I knew it started to grow long and thin. When it stopped shining I was looking at a freshly made sword.

Beth picks up the sword and pulls the info tab up as she says, "The sword's name is Dark Chaos which is unusual since the sword is pure white with faint blue outlines. The name seems to be more fitting for the sword you have on your back." I look at my sword on my back briefly and say, "If I remember right a blacksmith told me that the name attached to my sword is called Shining Peace which is funny since my swords have names that contradict each other. By the way how much do I owe you for the sword." Beth just shakes her head and says, "You owe me no money but as payment I want to be your personal blacksmith." I look at her confused as I say, "What is a personal blacksmith?" Beth looks at me and says, "When you are on the front lines fighting and your armor or your sword gets damaged it is the job of your personal blacksmith to fix it for you. I want to make a difference but as you know I do not know how to use my weapons I make but I am good at being a blacksmith. You are also a good swordswoman so I thought that you could fight in the front lines and ii would aid you by repairing your weapons." I smile at that and I am about to reply when the door burst open.

In front of the door is Hikaru who looks like he has run for a while now. I look at him shocked as I walk up to him. I lay my hand on his shoulder as I ask him, "Are you all right? Is something right?" he looks up at me and says, "I go and send you here hoping that you find a sword you like but of course the next thing I know I find out that you and Beth had went on some dangerous mission to obtain a mineral just so that you could have a sword." I smile and say, "Well her best sword had broke when I tested it so I thought that I could see if the rumor was true about the mineral. We had a girl slumber party in the den though it was quite fun we told stories and gossiped about things. Then when we wanted to leave this morning we just hitched a ride on the dragon." After I finished the story it looked like Hikaru was going to faint but thankfully he did not. He just shakes his head and looks over at Beth as he says, "After all of that you are still sane how is that possible." I look at him like I am hurt by what he said but I am not really and I say, "If you say that hanging around me causes people to go insane then why are you not insane because you are the person that has had to put up with me for the longest. Which by the looks of it you are as sane as you were when we first met at the amphitheater on the first floor or is looks deceiving." He laughs at that as if what I said was the funniest thing in the world. When he finally stopped laughing he had a big grin on his face as he says, "For you to make me insane I have to be sane but I was insane before I even met you." I think for a minute and I then say, "I could see that being true." While we were talking Beth was silently watching us and then she says, "Will you two watch the shop I have to get some supplies real quick." With that she rushes out of the shop in a hurry.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

It takes a while but I manage to track down Beth. I walk under a bridge where she is sitting down with her arms curled around her body. She is also crying out her eyes. I sit down next to her and I put a hand on her shoulder. She looks up at me with tears streaming down her eyes as she says, "How did you find me." I smile softly as I reply, "I climbed the clock tower, since it is the tallest building in the town, to find where you are." She lets out a chocked laugh as she says, "I could see you doing that."

We sit there for a while with my arm around her shoulder and her curled up on my side as she cries her heart out. She slowly sits up and wipes her eyes with her arm as she says, "The morning you came to my shop Hikaru came in a little before you with the happiest look on his face. I never seen him so happy I was used to seeing him with a sad somber look on his face but that day he had the brightest smile on his face. He told me that he would be gone for a while and that he would be back in a day or two. I think he was in a happy mood because he finally found the girl of his dreams. I thought that he finally noticed that I was a girl and that he liked me so I was planning on telling him how I felt when he came back. Then when he left the shop I talked to customers mentally counting down until I was going to tell him my feelings when you came in. You looked like you barely had a cent in your name and that you steal what you have. Mainly because of your black trench coat and the dark aura you carried around. Then I got mad when you broke my finest sword. For payback I was going to come along with you and jack up the price of your sword because I still thought that you did not have any money in your name. I wanted to follow for the chance of the mineral but I did not know that I was going to come back changed. I misjudged you and because of that I am terribly sorry for that and I was shocked that I went on the trip for the mineral but I came back with something more expensive than the mineral, I came back with a friend. I also found out that I was wrong about one more thing. I got the part about Hikaru finding the girl of his dreams but I got the wrong name. It was you that he had found and he may not know this but he fell for you and you fell for him too you just have not found out either." When she finishes I am too shocked to say anything. It was partly because a person actually wanted to become friends with me even though she knows what happened to my friends when they got too close to me. I was mainly shocked though about the second part of the speech. Ever since the death of Aiden I have never thought that I would fall in love with someone else or even that someone would fall in love with me. I shake my head and I make it to where I bury down the feelings. It is better to hide my feelings than causing the death of another close one. I hate being the cause of person's life when they are in this game. I want to be the reason that everyone wakes up from this game.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

I was getting tired of the boring food that I bought at the store so I fixed the problem by going hunting. Which is what I am doing right now. I stand with my hunting needles looking for the slightest movement that would show the l0cation of an animal any kind of animal would do as long as it was an animal that I could cook.

After half an hour I found the sign that I was looking for. I was about to give up when a bush to my far right started to move which means that there was an animal behind it moving it. As a smile creeps up on my lips thinking about what kind of animal it could be I raised the needle waiting for it to glow and when it did glow and threw it with as much speed I could. When I went to the animal I noticed that it was a rare rabbit that has high quality meat on it. Sadly I remembered that I do not have a high level in the cooking category so I have to sell it.

I went to Eric's shop on the 35th floor to sell. Mainly because I know that he is the only merchant that will not rip me off based on my gender. After I explained to him how I came across the rabbit he looks at me in shock and says, "Why are you selling this rare piece of rabbit? Now I love that you would want to sell it to me and all but why not cook it for yourself instead of letting someone else have it." I look at him and in a sad tone I answer, "Because you have to have a high level in cooking to be able to cook it. I barely even have cooking skills at all and if I tried to cook this meat I would end up ruining it." He shakes his head because he understands my pain. I pull up the tab to where I can sell the meat to him and I was about to hit sell when I heard a familiar voice behind me say, "Did I hear that you need a high level cook." I turn around to see Hikaru standing behind me with a serious looking woman behind him. I nod my head slowly and I add in, "Yeah do you know someone who is." He laughs and says, "You are looking at them. I just maxed out my cooking skills last week." That shocked not only me but it also shocked Eric because it takes a long time for someone to max out one of their skills and to add on to it, it is such a useless skill for a front line fighter so why would he want to max it out. While I was in shock he was looking up at the ceiling with a look that suggests that he is thinking about something. He looks right at me and says, "You probably have a simple place to stay and it probably has only a stove for a kitchen so that means that you have to come over to my house if you want the meat to be cooked right since I have the right appliances. Though this is a one time only offer and mainly because I know that I would not have another chance to try such a rare meat because like it or not but if I am cooking the meat then I am going to have half of it." I think for a while and I came to the conclusion quickly that what he offered was quite a fair deal. Before I could say anything the woman behind Hikaru looked at him like he was insane as she says, "Sir why would you want to invite her to your house alone. You do know that she is a beater and that she should not be trusted." He looks at her with a hint of rage as he says briskly, "She may be a beater but she can be trusted especially since she has fought with me multiple times and I am still here to see the next day. It also looks like I will not be alone on the way home so I will have no use of protection from you, goodnight Clarissa." Silence filled the air when he finished. Clarissa looks at him for a minute and then storms out the room.

Hikaru explained on the way to his house, which is on the 62nd floor, that the only reason that Clarissa was with him was for protection since he is the vice-president of the guild and that at anytime someone could endanger his life. Hikaru wishes that he did not have her follow him around all the time because it makes him feel weird or so that is what he told me anyway. When we finished we made it to the Beverly Hills which is where his house is located. He must make a lot of money since it cost a lot of money to be able to live here. He must have sensed what I was talking about because he turns around and says, "It pays a lot to be a vice-president of a guild."

With that being said he opens the door to his house. Which looks like it came out of a magazine. He walks past the living room and goes into what must be the kitchen so I follow behind a little slowly. It most have taken a lot of time and money to furnish this house because it looks so amazing. He turns to me with a smile playing on his lips as he asks, "Are you ready for some rabbit."


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Cooking in this game is pretty simple all you have to do is point at the thing you want with a knife and it instantly cuts itself up. Which is what Hikaru is doing right now. He looks up and says, "I used to cook with my mom that is why I have a maxed out cooking skill because it reminds me of her but this overly simplified way is so boring. Anyway I think that the rabbit should be made into a stew that way it would taste a lot more better but if you do not want a stew I can make something else if you want." I think for a bit and say, "Whatever you see fit I will eat because I am not a picky eater. As long as it gets cooked I do not care what method you used." With that he made our supper while I made myself useful and made the table for two.

When the rabbit stew was done we both sat down and ate. During the meal we talked about the two years that we have been here and how a lot of the people that have been trapped in here have grown used to living here and that less people are fighting in the front lines. All of a sudden he looks me straight in the eye as he says, "Will you partner up with me. We could go to the dungeon and look for the floor boss together." I think for a while and I answer back, "Well if you want to I am okay with that." With that being said Hikaru pulls up his tab smiling and sends me a group invite. I accept it with a smile of my own on my face. After that I leave with a plan to meet up with him in the morning.

The next day I stand at where I agreed to met him at and he is about ten minutes late right now. I hope that he did not change his mind and terminate the invitation. Right when I was going to look up to see his name the portal beside me flared up signifying that someone is about to come out of it. A couple of seconds later and Hikaru come running out of it. I walk up to him and ask, "Why are you running Hikaru." He looked at me and replies back with, "When I went outside my house to head towards the portal I saw Clarissa standing outside of my doorway and she tried to stop me from leaving. I guess she found out that I teamed up with you and that I was going to come met you today." Before I could even take the breath for my reply the portal flared again and out cam a running Clarissa. She locks her gaze on Hikaru and started walking up to him when I walked up to her blocking her path. She looks at me and says, "Get out of my way." I shake my head as I say, "I am sorry but today Hikaru will be with me so he will not need you to guard him today so you can go back to headquarters." She lets out a bitter laugh when I finish and she looks at me like I am the most disgusting thing ever as she says, "I am sorry to inform you but I will not let him be left alone with a beater who probably can't even defend herself." I have a bit of anger in my voice as I say, "Well how about this if we have a duel and you win then I will let you take Hikaru and defend him wherever you want to but if I win the fight then you will have to leave him alone with me." When I finish I go to my options and send her a duel request. It is not a normal one though because the way the winner is determined is the one that does not have a way to fight which means one of our swords are going to be disabled for the other one to win. She smiles when she sees the alteration I made and she accepts.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

I guess a lot of people wanted to see a fight between a beater and a knight from the guild 'The Knights from the Round Table' because there was a crowd forming when we pulled out our swords. We get in our fighting positions as the countdown clock counts down from ten. Everyone is cheering for Clarissa to beat me but there is one voice I hear that is cheering for me. I turn my head to see that Hikaru is cheering for me to win so I give him a thumbs up. Which must have got on Clarissa's nerves because when the clock got down to zero Clarissa charged at me with everything she had. I blocked her easily though. She starts throwing shots at me trying to disarm me but I manage to block them every time. When it reaches the five-minute mark I figured that the fight was taking to much time so I finally get out of defending mode and I target the point where I want to hit her sword. With a burst of speed I accomplish what I wanted. I hit her sword where I wanted and the next thing she knew her sword disintegrated and she was standing without a sword. I stood up from my fighting position and I say, "If you want you can pull out another sword if you want." She slowly shakes her head no because she was in a shock for words. I shrug and I turn around. I about made it to where Hikaru made it when I felt a fast wind approaching and on pure instincts in turn around with my sword drawn just in time to block a blow that Clarissa was going to do behind my back. I look at her with a cruel look as I say, "How did you get in a good guild, you look like you belong to a dark one in my opinion." She was about to yell something back when Hikaru walked up to us looking solely in Clarissa's eyes as he says, "Clarissa I relieve you from my service and I command that you should return to the headquarters this instant." With a glare shot at me she turns and goes through the portal.

Hikaru sighs as he turns to me and says, "You did not have to duel her you know. I can handle myself quite fine thank you very much." I laugh because of how that sounds like what I said the first time we met. I look at him with a smile on my face as I reply, "I know you could have but she made me so mad about how she was treating you so I could not help myself." When he notices the connection he starts laughing and we continue on to the dungeon.

It took us quite a long time to find where the boss was hiding. To be exact it took us around three days of fighting and searching to be able to find it. Right now we are standing at the doors that lead to the bosses room. I look at Hikaru and see that he has the same curious look on his face so we both open the doors not to fight the boss but to see what we were going to be up against. When we opened the doors we could not see anything but then suddenly one by one torches that lined the wall started to light up. When they were all lit we could see the boss in the room. It looked like one of the biggest bosses we have encountered it even has five health bars that we would have to deplete. It also has a wicked looking sword with a curved shape to it that was the same size as it. Right then and there it suddenly opens its gleaming red eyes and lets out an outraged roar at the sight of us.


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Before it could charge at us we exited the room and we closed the doors. When they were shut we started to run as fast as we could away from it. I know that it sounds cowardly and all but if you saw the monster too then you would know the reason why we ran.

After a while we stopped and we sat down. When our heart slowed down Hikaru went in his inventory and pulled out two objects. He handed one to me and he kept the other. When I opened it a let out a little squeal of joy because it was one of his homemade sandwiches. He laughs at my reaction but he does not say anything. Instead he leaned back on the wall behind us and ate his. When I took a bite out of my sandwich I made sure that I did not drop it like I did last time.

Right when I finish my sandwich I notice that a group of monsters or players were coming towards us. Either way they could be hostile so I pull out my sword as I slowly stand up. Hikaru looks at me confused for a minute but then he notices what I spotted and he stood up with his sword drawn too. A minute later and I spot the least likely person I would run into in a place like this. Coming right to me is Henry and his guild of friends. When Hikaru notes that I am smiling and waving at the incoming group he sheathes his sword and looks curiously at the incoming group. Like their leader Henry they all look gothic and a bit scary looking in their own way.

When Henry finally notices whom I am he smiles hugely and starts running towards me. When he makes it to me he picks me up in a bear hug and spins me around so fast that when he finally sets me down the world seems to be spinning around me. Hikaru walks up to me and puts his hand on my shoulder to steady me. Henry laughs at my show of dizziness. When he notices Hikaru for the first time a sly grin creeps up on his face as he says, "So you must have seduced Hikaru into joining your group by using your good looks." A blush creeps up on not only my face but also on Hikaru's face too. Before I could even say anything about it a thumping noise started and we all unsheathed our swords looking around for the source of the noise.

The source of the noise was the sound of boots as soldiers in white uniforms, which were marching wearily along the path. By the color of their uniform the must be from the Keepers of Peace which is basically a self-appointed army. When everyone started to freak out thy needed some order and the Keepers of Peace was one of the solutions to help the players retain some of their sanity. What is shocking is that the Keepers of Peace have not been on the front lines since the 15th floor battle which is where the were landed a high number of casualties for their guild so they mainly focus on the affairs of the players that live on the lower levels.

When they arrived to our position the leader turned to his soldiers and says, "You can rest for a while I speak with these players." With that being said they drop down to the ground with exhaustion. The leader turns to us and says, "Have any of you players past this mark yet?" I answered him with, "Yes we have and we also have a map of the floor leading to where the boss is." When the leader heard that he said, "Then you shall hand over that amp so that we may continue on our journey to the bosses hiding place." Even though he is a bit rude for demanding the map, even though we both know that mapping a place is hard and tedious work, I plan on giving him the map to the location of the boss. Henry looks at me with shock as I give the man the map. He walks up to the man and says, "If that was me I would not have given you that because we both know how hard it to map a place like this is but you asked Kari and she is a nice person." I push Henry softly but also hard enough to move him away from the man. When he understands what I am trying to do he steps aside so that I can be standing in front of the man. I look at the man straight in the eye as I say, "I may have given you the map but in my opinion you should turn around and deliver it to the front line soldiers instead of what you are obviously going to do." The man looks at me and says in a rude tine, "Oh, yeah if you know our plans then spit it out." I take a step towards him and he instantly takes a step back, which means that he is afraid of me. When he notices what he did he takes a step towards me to prove that he was not scared of me when it was already too late. He is afraid of me because he unconsciously took that step back in the first place. Before I could tell him that I knew him and his group were going to go to the boss to fight it, he yelled out, "Hurry up you pieces of trash we have work to do." When his men were on their feet, they took off.

After fighting monsters for a couple of minutes we sheathed our weapons and we were about to go check the boss room to see if the Peacekeepers had went in to fight the boss when suddenly we heard a scream. We all rushed to the source of the scream to find the Peacekeepers were fighting the boss without any backup.


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Sadly it does not look like the Peacekeepers are winning. Instead it looks like the boss is winning with a huge lead. I feel stupid for trusting them with the map but if I did not give them the map then they would have gone in by their selves without any clue. I was hoping that they would take my advice and give it to the people that have fought in these fights before but of course they ignored me and still came in here.

I turn to Henry and his guild as I say, "I need you and your guild to go heal the wounded Peacekeepers enough that they can get out of the door then you can heal them all of the way." When Henry and his guild went off to do their job I turn to Hikaru and say, "Now our job is to hold off the boss just long enough for them to escape and then we will flee out of this room. Then we will bring backup and then kill this boss and go to the next floor." Hikaru nods his head yes when I finish so I pull out my sword and I charge the boss.

The only ones that are still fighting the boss are the leader of the group and a few of his soldiers. Though they all look like they are not in the best condition. As I land blow after blow on the boss to distract it I yell to the leader, "Get your men and get out of the door. We do not have enough people to fight this boss so we need to retreat." The leader looks at me with a look of rage as he says, "Peacekeepers do not back down from anything." I guess he was the only one that believed that because while he was talking his men had run out of the boss's door. Right when I was about to drag him out of the fight he turns and starts to run for the door. Right when he is about to reach the door the boss turns away from Hikaru and me and lands a devastating blow to him. Right when the health bar is almost empty he yells over to me, "If you get out of this game alive will you find my wife and tell her I love her and that I am sorry for dying I just wanted to get to her faster. If it helps my name in real life is Edward Monroe." With that his health bar empties and he vanishes.

Even though he was rude to me his death caused me to get angry. The only reason he went to the front lines was to be able to get to his wife quicker and this monster had to kill him. I know that Hikaru and me were outmatched but I still have a trick up my sleeve. I did not want to use this but I have no other choice but to do it. I turn to Hikaru and yell, "I need you and Henry to fight him while I get something real quick then I will need both of you to back away so that I do not get one of you hurt. When I finish Henry hurries back into the room and starts fighting by Hikaru. Taking my leave I back up a bit and I go into my inventory. When I find what I am looking for I pull it out and I yell out that I am ready. When they backed up they must have noticed that what I needed to get out was a sword. They probably have no clue what I am about to do with it but they are about to find out.

I run up to the boss as fast as I can. Gripping both swords in my hand I get into my zone. Using both swords I launch into a combo of hits. Each time I hit the boss I told myself to go faster and to be quicker. I need to have a one hundred hit combos to be able to be able to beat the boss. When I finally reach it I use the unique technique I learned that goes by the name 'Star-Blaze Stream' which emptied the last bar. Right when the monster dies my health bar turns red from the last blow the monster gave me and I faint.

When I wake up a minute later I find a distraught Hikaru in front of me. When he notices that I am awake he tells me, "You scared me to death Kari I almost thought that you were going to die but thankfully we came to you just in time to get your health bar up some." When he finishes I notice that he has tears running down his face. I was about to apologize for scaring him when Henry come up to me with a look of wonder on his face as he says, "What skill were you using Kari because I have never seen it before. Can you also tell me how to earn it because I would love it if I had that skill." I looked down at my feet as I say, "The skill is called 'Duel Wielding' and I would tell you how to earn it but I have no idea how I got it. A month ago I woke up and found it in my skill boxes out of the blue." Henry looks like he was about to say something more when Hikaru says to me, "I think I am going to take a break from the guild and to continue to be in your party." I look at him a bit nervous as I say, "Won't Heathcliff has a problem with having his vice-president taking a break." Hikaru laughs and says, "It is okay Heathcliff will be alright with it. It is not like I am going to quit the guild or something."

Well Hikaru was wrong Heathcliff did have a problem with him taking a break. He requested it he said that he did not need his most important guild member take a break. I know this because I was there with him and when I heard Heathcliff say that to him I could not help but say, "It is not like he is quitting the guild he just wants to take a short break and nothing more." Heathcliff turns his attention to me as I finish. After a brief silence he says with a smile, "Well how about I make a deal with you. Let us have a duel, I will even let you use that unique skill of yours, and if you win then I will let Hikaru take a break with you but if you lose then you have to join the Knight of the Round Table."


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

It did not take me even a minute before I reply back by saying, "We have a deal then." I walk over to him and shake his hand sealing the deal with it. When we make it out of the room Hikaru turns to me and says, "I can't believe that you are doing this." I just shrug like it was nothing and continue walking.

When it come time for the fight I get ready for the fight while Hikaru says, "You do know that Heathcliff has a unique skill too. It makes his strength and defense real strong so it will make it hard to beat him." I look at him as I say, "Hikaru I know this, you do not have to worry because I will win this fight and we can relax doing nothing." With that I exit the room and start my walk to where the fight will be held.

I guess people wanted to see the fight between us because when I was about to go through the door a woman turned to me and said that I need to get in the back of the line. Then she noticed that I was one of the people that were dueling so she let me through.

Around me I hear people cheering for one of us but I tune them out as I draw out my swords. I stand still in front of Heathcliff with his white armor that looks like the Peacekeepers but it has a red cross on its breastplate. Suddenly the countdown reaches zero and we start our duel.

Even with two swords it was still tough to fight him. His shield and sword combo did not help either. He had fun blocking my moves with his sword and we both know that he is currently winning but I do not give up. Thankfully I got used to his fighting style and I started to gain the advantage. Since this is a duel to see who reaches red first I try to make his enter the red zone. I have it in the orange zone though which is good. I see my chance and I make a move that he has no way of dodging and also gives me the duel because it would put him in the red. Right when I am about to hit him I feel something weird like time was slowing down around me. Before I could put any thought in it something bizarre happens. Heathcliff actually manages to not only dodge my hit but also lands an unnaturally fast hit on my shoulder causing him to win the duel.

Since I lost the duel that means that I have to join the guild, which I did. Right now I am getting dressed in the uniform as I say, "I thought I asked for a uniform that was not flashy." The uniform was like my old outfit but it was now white and red instead of red which means that I now stick out.

Hikaru sighs as he says, "You did get the less flashy one Kari. It is not my fault that they are like that." I let out a sigh before I say, "I know I guess it is just me being a bit nervous since I am in a guild now." With that I slowly sink down on the bed behind me.

Hikaru squats down in front of me with a worried look on his face as he says, "I know that this might be a bit nosy but I have a question to ask. Why is it that you hate guilds? You go out of the way to make sure that you stay a solo player and I know that if you wanted to join a guild you would have been in one already without even trying." I knew that he was going to ask that but that still does not make me prepared for it. I almost let grief surround me again but I managed to take a slow breath and when I let it out I say, "It is a long story Hikaru that I am not proud of." Hikaru eases up out of his squat and sits next to me on the bed. I was looking away from him so I was a bit shocked when I felt his hand softly touching me under my chin and turning it slowly until my eyes were on his. Then he draws back his hand and whispers softly, "Good thing I have the time so spill it." With that I launch into the story about the guild that I was in and how it has changed me.

When I finish the story there is nothing but silence that fills the air around me so I turn to see if Hikaru has fallen asleep. He was not asleep but instead he was awake. The reason he was silent was because silently tears were streaming down his face. When he sees that I was finished with the story he suddenly hugs me tightly as he whispers into my ear, "No one should have to endear so much pain with no one to help ease it." With that I hug him back and I cry into his shoulder. It is not the same kind of crying that I did with Beth. When I cried on Beth's shoulder it was out of grief but when I was crying on Hikaru's shoulder I was crying because of totally different reason. The reason was because for once someone wanted to help carry the burden of my guild mate's deaths with me. When the crying stopped I backed out of his embrace. He looks at me with a serious look on his face as he lays his hand on my shoulder and says, "I will promise you that I am not going to be like your last guild I will not only stay alive but I will protect you from physical and mental pains."


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

After we talked for a bit later we decided that it was about time for us to head towards the guild's headquarters, which is where we are. I walk up to the semi-circle table that has the higher ups of the guild. Even Hikaru is at the table since he is the vice-president. When we got here he had excused himself to go to the table. I am waiting right now to see what they want me to do.

I snap out of thought as Heathcliff says, "Since you are apart of the guild now that means that we need to see what you are made of so we are going to test you to see what your strengths are so that we can use them for the guild. That is why you are going to go with Steven and go on a mission with him so that he can see what we should class you as." Hikaru looks at Heathcliff with shock as he says, "You have seen her skills already though. Not only did you see them while you dueled her but you also saw her fight multiple times on the front lines so can you tell me why she has to do this." I agree with him but he does not get it so I say, "The reason I have to do this is so that the other guild members do not think that I will get special treatment because I have a unique skill and that I am friends with the vice-president of the guild." I can see the shock plainly on his face so I know for sure that he did not think of that so he just shakes his head yes and remains quiet as I get the rest of the instructions.

I have about half an hour before I have to go on the mission with Steven so I am getting the supplies that I need for the trip with the help of Hikaru. Okay maybe Hikaru is not helping instead he is passing around the room nervous. He stops midstride as he says, "Right when we have a chance to relax together they have to send you off on a mission to see what your skills are even though they already know what they are." I would respond to that but he has been saying that over and over again since I started getting ready for the mission, which was fifteen minutes ago. I turn to him ready for the mission as I say, "I know that you think this is a bit unfair but it will be a quick and easy mission and I will be back as soon as I can with not injuries at all." With a final wave goodbye I turn around and leave for my mission.

It takes about twenty-five minutes for me to arrive at the gate where I will meet up with Steven. I guess I was not the only one that made it early because Steven walks out from behind the gate waving at me with a smile. When I get in hearing distance Steven yells, "Kari it is nice to meet you. Since we are all here I guess we can start the mission now." When I heard him say we instead of you I was wondering who the other person was when suddenly he pulls someone from behind the gate. Who it was made me stop where I was because standing by Steven was Clarissa.


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

When the shock fades I close the distance between us. When I stop again I look at Steven and ask, "I am not trying to sound rude but can I be informed as to why Clarissa is with you." Steven lets out a chuckle as he says, "Now I know that you and Clarissa have a little bad history together but since both of you will be in the same guild I thought that maybe you both need to forgive each other and forget all about it so I came up with an idea. My idea was that Clarissa would go on the mission with us so that you can learn to trust her because she is quite a nice person once you get to know her. Before I could reply Clarissa steps up to Steven and me with a sad look on her face as she says, "I thought that what I did was wrong and rude so I thought that I would come on this mission to apologize and hopefully earn your trust." With that she reaches out her hand and for a second I was going to slap it away but then I thought about how that would affect me more than her so I shake her hand. Though she squeezed it a bit too hard for my liking. Steven claps his hands fast as he says, "Yay now we are making progress, now onto business. I need the crystals that both of you have so that this mission shows what you do when you do not have a easy way out."

It has been over an hour and a half since we took off from the gate to reach our point and we were all three tired so Steven decided it was time for a break so we all found our own little seat and we sat down. Clarissa goes through her inventory and pulls out the water and the food since she was in charge of the refreshments. She handed Steven his bread and his water and then she walks over to me and gives me my food and she goes to where her stuff awaits her. Dying of thirst I open my water bottle and I start drinking I notice that the water has a weird taste to it but I did not care because I was terribly thirsty. When I was halfway done with my water I noticed that Clarissa was not drinking her water and to add onto that she had an evil grin on her face and too late did I realize that the weird taste in the water was because it has a paralyzing poison in it. I remember that I had brought along the antidote for it and I yell over at Steven to get it so that he can treat himself and save us. His fingers were inches away from the crystal when the poison took affect on him. His body froze up and the only things that moved were his eyes and his heart. A couple seconds later and mine took affect too. Clarissa lets out an evil laugh because she knows that she has won and that any moment she can kill us both and we have no way of protecting ourselves.


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31

Clarissa slowly makes her way to Steven and when she makes it to him she sticks out her lower lip in a pout as she says, "Aw the poor old man thought that we could make up an live happily ever after and then one day we beat the game and I will become life long friends with her." She pulls out her swords and right when her sword cuts his head off she says, "Well I am sorry to inform you but there is never a happily ever after. Especially when it involves a beater."

When she says the word beater she turns to face me. She then makes her way to me but she goes faster then when she went over to kill Steven like she wants to kill me more than she wanted to kill Steven, which is absolutely true. She bends down in front of me so that she could be right in my face as she says, "Do you remember when you said that you were shocked that I was in a good guild instead of an evil guild. Well the thing is that I am in an evil guild." With that she pulls up her sleeve to reveal an angel with horns and a pitchfork. Which means that she was in the guild 'Death Angels' that is the most evil guild of all. I always hated that their guild's name was so similar to my username and everyday I have to bear the shame of it.

She continues like I actually care by saying, "Do you know that the Death Angel guild was how I learned how to make this potion. They also taught me the many ways to kill a person slowly and painfully." I know that if I wanted to I could probably stall by talking about her guild and that could help me because it would give me more time for the poison to wear off, thank goodness you can talk when you are paralyzed. I clear my throat and say, "Which guild did you join first if you mind me asking." She thinks for a minute. I guess she was thinking about whether or not to answer it because she says, "Well since you are going to die anyway I might as well let you know. I joined 'Death Angels' way before I joined this guild. The only reason why I joined this guild was because it was for a mission. My mission was to get close to the vice-president of this guild, which is Hikaru of course, and then when he trust me I will kill him and I still will do the mission even though you set me back a bit. When I get done killing you I will head back headquarters and say that we got ambushed by the 'Death Angels' and that I barely managed to survive and that Steven and you had lost your lives sadly." When she is finished I was anger so anger that if I was not paralyzed I would have been shaking in anger. Thankfully I was paralyzed so that meant that it did not give me away. I calmed down some so that when my voice did not give me away when I say, "Well I guess you get to finish your mission since I am going to die." She nods her head yes with a smile on her face. She draws back her sword and as she lets lose her sword it gets blocked by a familiar sword.

I look up to find Hikaru at the end of the sword with rage plain on his face. Clarissa looks at Hikaru in shock as she says, "How did you find us!" Hikaru looks at her with the rage still in his eyes as he says, "I was worried that Kari might get hurt so I was watching all three of your dots on the map so that if any of you got hurt I would know and be able to find you. I was watching when suddenly Steven's dot disappeared and I got worried so I rushed over here and it looks like I made it just in time." With that being said he flicked his sword so that Clarissa's sword got farther from my neck. Clarissa who is mad that her plan got ruined started to fight Hikaru but he fought back. Clarissa could not land any blows on Hikaru but he got hits on her. He managed to get her bar all the way down to red when suddenly she laid down her sword and says, "Please do not kill me I am so sorry you can take me to the Peacekeepers or do anything else but please spare my life." Hikaru thought for a minute and then he let out a sigh and sheathed his sword. He bends down to pick up Clarissa's sword something bad happens. She pulls out another sword and charges his back without him knowing. Thankfully that was right when I was able to move again so that when he turned around he did not see a sword that was going to kill him but instead he saw me behind him with Clarissa on the ground as her health bar goes to zero and she vanishes. He also notices that a have a deep gash in my arm. He rushes over to me and says, "What happened to you. One second you were laying over there paralyzed and now you are where Clarissa was with a deep gash on your arm." I look at him and shyly say, "I wanted to protect you. When you turned around Clarissa pulled out another sword and was going to kill you but I ran in front of it and blocked it by using my arm, then I used my own sword to kill her. When I finish he hands me a healing crystal and I use it to fix my arm. When it finished healing I look up to see Hikaru staring at me weirdly. I look down shyly when he walks up to me and lifts my chin up to where I can see him. Then he shocked me by leaning in and kisses me tenderly on the lips, I automatically kiss him back. When he breaks the kiss he leans his forehead on him as he says breathlessly, "I do not care if you protect me but do not protect me at your cost." I nod my head yes when he adds a bit shyly, "I also would like it if you stayed at my house tonight so that I know that you are safe." I am a bit shocked by the question but I still say yes to him.

When I wake up I notice there is a line of rose petals leading out of my door. I get up excited thinking that I have an idea to what this is leading to so I hurry up until I reach the balcony to find Hikaru standing by a table. When I make it to the table he pulls out a chair for me and I sit in it a bit disappointed but I quickly push that feeling away.

Hikaru had made a special breakfast for us and it was wonderful. I never had a meal that good. When we finished I was about to leave to go change out of my gown he says, "Wait you have to stay for a minute I have one more thing to give you. When I turn around I see Hikaru kneeling on one leg with a box in his hands and as he opens it he says, "I know that we have barely known each other for long but the time we spent together was enough time for me to fall in love with you. Kari will you marry me." Before he could even finish I was nodding my head yes with tears in my eyes. He got up and came to me and very gently put the ring on my hand and the only reason it would be taken off would be to put it on the other hand where it would stay forever.


End file.
